Mayor Eric Adams handed off enforcement over street vendors from the Department of Consumer and Worker Protection to the Department of Sanitation, which the NYPD assists with. concerns arose that the shift would lead to more criminalization.
that the shift would lead to more criminalization and discrimination since the city’s street vendors, licensed or not, are primarily Black, African, or Caribbean immigrants, and Latino migrants.
Salou BB, 39, is a street vendor with his sunglasses table set up outside of H&M on the same block. He said that he has been vending all kinds of things for years in Harlem and hasn’t experienced that same level of harassment. He claimed that he had a license and a tax identification number, though. He said the real issue with vending is that newcomers to the neighborhood who live on 125th Street don’t necessarily buy from street vendors the way Black residents have in the past.
“We don’t want to break the law, but in the meantime, our kids are in school. We got to feed them. It’s like we’re taking chances. There are so many other crimes that are happening in the city. We’re not doing no harm to anybody. Why don’t you go after the real criminals? Why are you so focused on us?”
“The Marriott says we have to move. We’re actually better if we stay right here. Why don’t you put a little box or a stand for us? Come on, we belong here! Build upon what we already got. We’ve been here so long, how about we grow upon that?” Pelayo said. “It would be dope if we could build upon those spaces so we can have a strong vending community here. Because we make Harlem.
Originally from Trinidad, Franklyn Grenaway is a Vietnam War veteran who first came to Harlem in the early 1970s and began his 50-year career as a designer and artist. Grenaway sporadically vends on 125th Street, selling his “HBCU Knowledge” line of apparel products. Despite never having attended a Historically Black College/University , he was fascinated with the history of these schools and noticed there was a need for more HBCU promotional products.
Lloyd Williams, president and CEO of the Greater Harlem Chamber of Commerce and co-founder of Harlem Week, spoke to theabout the situation with street vendors in Harlem, as well as Adams’s recent decision. Williams said the transfer of enforcement from DCWP to DSNY “actually makes sense.” “The question continually goes back to how we organize, so that there are persons who are designated to speak for the interests of the vendors. They may say, ‘Let’s organize so that there is a spokesperson speaking for all of the vendors of clothing, let’s get a spokesperson that is speaking for all the vendors of [other goods].”
Fields recalled that during her time as a city councilmember, from 1989 to 1993, street vending was “out of control,” which led directly to the controversial establishment of the Malcolm Shabazz Harlem Market on 116th Street in following years. The open air African market had its own designated lot, controlled by the nearby masjid and is now a popular tourist attraction in Harlem.
Felder said the laws over the last five decades are the culmination of a criminalization of Black street vending. He said that a “negative campaign fueled by brick and mortar businesses” in 1979 inspired theAnother vendor advocate in the councilmember’s office, Robert Jackson, remembered that in the 1980s and ’90s, some people would set up along Harlem streets, selling contraband in the. He figured that is why there’s still a profoundly negative view of street vending.
“The manner in which the transition took place was very non-transparent,” said Kaufman-Gutierrez. “So unfortunately, it’s the continuation of policy that has harmed these small businesses for so long, which is saying ‘all we have for you is enforcement.’”
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