Thursday, June 23, 2011 • The RIVERDALE REVIEW
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Street vendors threaten legitimate retailers here
By MIAWLING LAM An epic David and Goliath battle is looming in Kingsbridge. Fed up with street vendors siphoning business and clogging the sidewalks along Broadway and West 231st Street, local stores are fighting back. At the heart of the tussle are vendors who set up shop directly outside traditional businesses and hawk the same goods but at a fraction of the cost. The neighborhood’s business improvement district is currently exploring their legal options and will determine whether they can relocate vendors to less densely populated business areas. Kingsbridge BID Executive Director Katherine L. Broihier said it was unfair that local stores were being forced to compete with street vendors for consumers’ dollars. “We’re trying to be fair,” she said. “There is no reason that someone should be selling food in front of a grocery store. “The business people get very upset. The merchant is paying property taxes, BID taxes, he’s giving money to the Little League and doing things for the community. “Some [vendors] just seem to come in and set up shop. Who knows where they come from? They’re there just to make a quick buck.” The issue was raised by a number of merchants during the group’s recent annual meeting. Broihier said merchants were calling for better policing and a crackdown on any vendors who were operating illegally and sans a permit. The BID is currently examining legislation and will develop a framework once they have a better grasp on street vendor laws. “The city has rules and regulations about vendors that is very, very confusing,” she said. “There are places where they are totally legal and yet there are other places where they can’t be. “What we want to do is sit down and really look at where they can legally position themselves. Can they compete directly with a similar merchant? We have to clarify a lot of those rules.” Adding to the complications is the increasing number of street vendors operating in the area. Broihier estimates at least seven stalls are set up each day in the busy Kingsbridge corridor—a far cry from the two or three that operated a decade ago—and that everything from handbags to educational resources to produce to perfume are being sold on the sidewalks. According to the New York City Administrative Code, street vendors are prohibited from peddling wares in areas where there is already heavy pedestrian and vehicular traffic. Police are authorized to force those who do not comply to relocate to another area. However, Detective Luis Rodriguez, the 50th Precinct’s Community Affairs Officer, said police have yet to issue a summons or move-along directive. “You got your license, and as long as you’re not blocking pedestrians’ way, we’re not going to bother them,” he
told the Riverdale Review. “We already fact-checked a lot of the vendors and they’re legal. A lot of them are veterans. We can’t do nothing with veterans —they’re one of the exemptions in the city.” Councilman G. Oliver Koppell said more work was needed to curb the growing number of street vendors. “We’d like to do whatever we can to limit street vendors generally,” he said. “We’ve had a lot of difficulty with the city in getting both enforcement and also clarification of where they’re permitted. “If there are vendors who don’t have a permit, we will call the police and try to get them off the streets.”
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