Council Pushes Overhaul of Street-Vendor Permits After Decades-Long Cap

NEW YORK — A City Council proposal to sharply increase the number of legal street-vendor permits and route enforcement through a civilian agency rather than the police drew a large and divided crowd to City Hall on Tuesday. Supporters said the decades-old cap on permits has pushed thousands of vendors into a shadow economy, exposing them to fines and confiscations while denying the city licensing revenue and basic oversight.

Vendor advocates argued that the current system traps immigrant entrepreneurs in a cycle of illegality, forcing many to rent permits on a gray market at exorbitant rates. "These are small businesses, full stop," said an organizer with a vendors' coalition, who testified that expanded permits would bring workers into the light where they could be inspected, taxed, and protected. She said many vendors want to comply but have no lawful path to a permit under the existing cap.

Brick-and-mortar merchants and some business improvement districts pushed back, warning that a surge in sidewalk vendors could crowd already congested streets and siphon customers from storefronts that pay rent and property taxes. A representative of a Midtown merchants' group said the city must first address enforcement of existing rules on placement, sanitation, and sidewalk clearance before adding thousands of new permits to the mix.

The proposal to move routine enforcement from the police to a civilian inspection unit proved especially divisive. Advocates said decriminalizing vending disputes would reduce unnecessary confrontations, while critics questioned whether a new civilian corps could be staffed and trained quickly enough to handle the workload. City officials testified that a phased rollout would be necessary regardless of the final structure.

Council leaders indicated the bill would likely be amended before any vote, with possible changes to the pace of permit expansion and to placement rules near schools, hospitals, and transit hubs. "There is a version of this everyone in the room can live with," one council member said, "but we are not there yet." A follow-up hearing was expected in the fall.