A true Market City advocates for and protects the full spectrum of its markets. That includes street vending, a crucial part of local economies as well as the social and cultural fabric of our communities. While its presence provides surrounding businesses with a positive ripple effect and adds life to street corners and plazas, street vending is at the mercy of pushback from nearby businesses, police harassment, and even criminalization. 

If more market managers and city agencies would consider street vending as part of a broader public market strategy, we could unlock the full benefits of this market type. In New York City, the Street Vendor Project works to organize vendors and provide them with legal aid, providing an example of on-the-ground, grassroots organizing and advocacy.

The Street Vendor Project team helps members address a wide variety of issues through legal support. According to Matthew Shapiro, Legal Director with the Street Vendor Project, some of the most sought-out services include help with tickets from enforcement agencies, questions about vending laws, such as where you can sell, conflicts between vendors, and sales tax. These legal services help keep vendors in business and ease the burden they may feel in keeping up with the latest regulations and policies around vending.

But legal action is not always enough. As Shapiro puts it, “legal services are important, but most of the time they’re not going to bring about systemic change. That needs to come from vendors organizing and changing the way they are regulated.” So far, organizing has led to policy changes in New York including the passing of Intro 1116, which will open up to 4,000 permits to new vendors in the city when it comes into full effect after a decade of phasing. It will also codify into law the change of vendor-enforcement from the New York Police Department (NYPD) to the Department of Consumer and Worker Protection (DCWP).

While Intro 1116 is intended to be a progressive policy change and its passage was an important win for vendor organizers, the full impact of the legislation is yet to be determined. Mohamed Attia, Director of the Street Vendor Project, says that how the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene is interpreting this new law might actually extend the harmful cycle of re-selling permits, because it puts some vendors in the uneasy position of having to choose between operating legally and remaining in the locations where they have been operating and building relationships with customers. And, while the DCWP is now in charge of street vendor enforcement, not only does the police department remain involved, but as of August 2022, there has been a 33% increase in tickets issued from 2019 when the NYPD was the sole agency responsible.

While this indicates a range of issues related to the new policy, organizing has resulted in collective legal action to prevent discrimination against street vendors. For example, Shapiro notes that New York City went through a period of strict policing of street vending, during which enforcement agencies would take and destroy property from people who didn’t have permits. “They were bringing the sanitation truck and crushing carts,” says Shapiro. “So we said, ‘taking property without due process or a hearing is illegal.’ We filed a class action lawsuit to get the City to stop doing that, and then reimburse people who had their things taken.”

These organizing efforts are also sensitive to the different experiences that women and Black, Indigenous and People of Color vendors experience. For example, Shapiro notes that women vendors are less likely to have permits or licenses. Within the Street Vendor Project, regular meetings of a Women’s Committee provide a space for members to discuss such challenges, which are often quite different than those men might face on the street. To further back this up, staff members hold roles dedicated to cultural competencies across marginalized identities, including those of Women and BIPOC Empowerment Organizer, Latinx/Spanish Speaking Member Organizer, Bangladeshi Member Organizer, and Middle Eastern & North African Member Organizer. 

The next step, according to Shapiro, is lifting up the voices of vendors themselves. “We are not street vendors ourselves. We can stand at a press conference and talk about things, but if you have vendors speak about it, it’s a lot more powerful.” To that end, the Street Vendor Project is investing time in leadership development initiatives where vendors are leading the change themselves and organization staff play the role of facilitator.

Shapiro and Attia are also members of the Street Vending Advisory Board, which was formed following the passage of Intro 1116. The Board together with the Office of Street Vendor Enforcement, is tasked with reviewing and evaluating the State and City laws and rules regulating vending in New York City. In May 2022, the Board released 16 actionable recommendations. They range from allowing mobile food vendors to operate in designated metered parking spots to creating “Community Vending Marketplaces” in underserved neighborhoods that increase entrepreneurial opportunities as well as access to food and other goods. Hopefully the work of this board will lead to more political will to create additional programs and policies that benefit the city’s vendors.

A key Market City principle is Collaboration, which we define as bringing together diverse partners and stakeholders to act together to achieve common policy objectives. To this end, market managers, policymakers, and advocates can support ongoing initiatives to protect the rights of street vendors by including them in the decision-making process, and thinking of innovative ways to expand opportunities for vendors through other types of markets. After all, gaining policy support for street vendors can bring greater attention to the value and benefits of other market types within the larger public market system. 

For more on why street vending is a crucial component of a market system, read our article on the Market City principle of Variety.

‍‍Katherine Peinhardt has a background in climate change, and writes about the intersection of resilience and placemaking. She currently works at the ICLEI European Secretariat, and is a former German Chancellor Scholar.