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Peralta pushes idea for new vendor panel

By Bill Parry

Disputes between street vendors and the owners of brick and mortar stores and restaurants along the Roosevelt Avenue business corridor are growing so rancorous that one lawmaker is calling on Mayor de Blasio to do something about it.

In an effort to ensure the two parties “peacefully and profitably co-exist, state Sen. Jose Peralta (D-East Elmhurst) is calling on the city to reconvene the defunct Street Vendor Review Panel and charge it with making sense of the myriad, often overlapping and confusing regulations governing the rights and obligations of street vendors.

“Street vendors are established fixtures in many neighborhoods and critical parts of the fabric of many communities,” Peralta wrote in a letter to the mayor. “I firmly believe that they deserve to be treated with the dignity and respect afforded to other small business owners. Under the current system, however, street vendors are forced to overcome significant obstacles not faced by their brick-and-mortar counterparts

“On the other hand,” Peralta added, “my office has received numerous complaints about the many street vendors on and around Roosevelt Avenue. Brick-and-mortar business owners and community members are concerned about the way current regulations and enforcement practices lead to serious congestion and sanitation problems and other issues. I have also heard a large number of complaints from restaurant owners who say that having a street vendor selling the same food directly in front of their storefront endangers the restaurant’s ability to remain viable.”

Peralta believes that re-establishing the inter-agency panel with a broad mandate with representatives of vendors, retail owners and community interests is the right entity to study these issues and make appropriate recommendations. Peralta suggests the proposed panel would try to eliminate the black market for street vendor permits by lifting the current cap on permits and rescinding those of individuals who illegally rent them out, enact a letter-grade system for mobile food vendors and create zoning regulations to reduce sidewalk congestion among other issues.

The original Street Vendor Review Panel was created in 1995 and consisted of the commissioners of the departments of Small Business Services and Transportation, the director of City Planning and one representative chosen by the mayor and the City Council speaker.

The purview of the original panel, which was phased out towards the end of the Giuliani administration, was restricted to determining locations where street vendors would be prohibited from operating. Peralta envisions a “re-imagined” panel whose mission would be to create an environment in which “street vendors and brick-and-mortar retailers peacefully and profitably co-exist doing business in close proximity to each other.”

Shaun Basinski of the Street Vendors Project studied Peralta’s letter and said, “We really appreciate the Senator getting involved and sharing his voice. We need more licenses and permits, something that has been capped since 1979 and that’s led to the black market and that’s why the police get involved and arrest people who are just trying to work for a living.”.”

Reach reporter Bill Parry by e-mail at bparr‌y@cng‌local.com or by phone at 718-260-4538.