Initiative Testifies at City Council Hearing on Street Vending Modernization Act

By Aude (Own work) [CC BY-SA 2.5], via Wikimedia Commons

On October 26, City Council held a hearing on the recently proposed legislation collectively referred to as the Street Vendor Modernization Act (Intro 1303  and related legislation).  The legislation’s primary sponsor is Council Member Mark Levine (District 7, representing Upper Manhattan and the Bronx) and has 14 co-sponsors including Council Member Margaret Chin (District 1, representing Lower Manhattan including Chinatown, SoHo and FiDi).

The legislation does many things, here are the 5 primary changes:

• Authorizes the City to issue up 4,200 new food cart permits
• Creates a new Office of Street Vendor Enforcement
• Creates a Street Vendor Advisory Board
• Creates a “designated vending locations” pilot program
• Loosens certain location restrictions

At the hearing, Council received testimony from Mayoral Agencies and many stakeholders, including testimony from the Initiative.  As currently proposed, the Initiative does not support the proposed package.  The Initiative encourages SoHo Broadway stakeholders to review the legislation and share your opinion with the City Council.

We will continue to follow this legislation closely and share any updates with the SoHo Broadway community as they happen.