Bronx Times

For too long, street vendors have been treated like criminals by police, when in reality these are small businesses run primarily by immigrants, women and people of color, that feed our communities, contribute to the local economy, and enrich the culture of our city. Like other small businesses, vendors have been decimated by the COVID-19 pandemic. We are appalled by your decision to send the New York Police Department to harass the hard working entrepreneurs on Fordham Road on Wednesday, July 21,

Queens Daily Eagle

“Street vendors have long played an important role in our city, yet a broken vending system has forced most to operate without a license, then criminalized them for trying to make a living,” the Street Vendor Project, who signed onto the letter, tweeted.

Gothamist

According to the Street Vending Project, active general street vendor permits are capped at 853 for all five boroughs. That number has been in place since the 1980s, and the waiting list is comprised of thousands of prospective vendors. While there is no cap in the number of food vending permits, the only way to obtain a license is through an online course that's made available only in English, effectively cutting out non-English speaking New Yorkers hoping to get a permit.

The City

Sarita Daftary, co-director of Freedom Agenda, an Urban Justice Center project that advocates for decarceration, argued that the high AWOL rate makes it “harder for [the officers] who do show up for work — and of course, dangerous for the incarcerated people who aren’t getting to their court dates, to visits, to medical, to commissary, aren’t getting mail, and all other kinds of human rights abuses.”

Gay City News

The city is also increasing money intended to support “people involved in the sex trade” by $300,000 to $4.43 million. New funding sources within this program include $100,000 for the Urban Justice Center’s Sex Workers Project, which works to identify immigrant trans survivors of trafficking.