{"id":343298,"date":"2025-10-30T14:17:19","date_gmt":"2025-10-30T14:17:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/343298\/"},"modified":"2025-10-30T14:17:19","modified_gmt":"2025-10-30T14:17:19","slug":"street-vendors-and-delivery-workers-rally-for-greater-protections-at-city-hall","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/343298\/","title":{"rendered":"Street vendors and delivery workers rally for greater protections at City Hall"},"content":{"rendered":"

More than 100 street vendors and delivery drivers rallied outside City Hall on Wednesday morning to urge the City Council to pass a package of legislation that would protect street vendors and halt \u201cunjust\u201d deactivations<\/a>, which prohibit workers from using certain delivery apps.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The rally, organized by the Street Vendor Project, Workers\u2019 Justice Project, Urban Justice Center, and Los Deliveristas Unidos, called on the Council to pass a number of bills known as the Street Vendor Reform Package before the end of the year.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The package, including Intros 431. 408, 24 and 1251, would ensure that all vendors have a \u201cfair chance\u201d to secure licenses for their businesses, advocates said. The package would further create a division within the NYC Department of Small Business Services, providing educational and compliance services for vendors and making conditions safer for both vendors and pedestrians alike, they added.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Protesters stated that it is currently impossible to obtain a permit from the city, as vendors are unable to join a lengthy and closed waitlist to secure a permit.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n

CBS News reported in 2024 that there are more than 10,000 vendors on the city\u2019s waitlist for permits, but the Department of Health has only released 129 permits in a three-year period since the passage of Local Law 445, which sought to release up to 445 food vendor permits annually.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Permits \u2018in name only\u2019<\/p>\n

Protesters on Wednesday stated that Intro 1251 would ensure that permits are actually issued annually. At present, protesters say, the city is only issuing permits in \u201cname only.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Delivery workers, meanwhile, have called for the passage of Intro 1332, which they say would end the practice of \u201cunjust\u201d deactivations on delivery apps. Workers said Wednesday that their accounts are often deactivated on delivery apps without a clear reason, devastating a predominantly immigrant workforce that relies on deliveries to make a living.<\/p>\n

The legislation would require delivery apps to provide just cause or clear economic reasons for deactivating a worker\u2019s account, as well as providing the necessary training so that delivery workers can adhere to the app\u2019s rules and regulations.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Wednesday\u2019s rally saw a large number of vocal protesters march around City Hall for over an hour, calling on the Council to vote on the Street Vendor Reform Package before the end of the current session, with only four stated meetings left in 2025.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Bronx City Council Member Pierina Ana Sanchez, lead sponsor of Intro. 431<\/a>, which would increase the number of permits the city makes available every year, stated that current regulations have forced vendors across the city to \u201coperate in the shadows\u201d because they are unable to obtain a permit legally.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Sanchez, who did not attend Wednesday\u2019s rally, said more than 80% of vendors in her council district in the Bronx currently operate without a license because they are unable to obtain a license. Sanchez said the city is currently failing to provide vendors with access to education on how to operate stalls safely, with no support on how to operate harmoniously within a certain community.\u00a0<\/p>\n

She said there is currently \u201cno path to full compliance\u201d with the law, even when a vendor is willing to do so.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n

\u201cAs the daughter and granddaughter of hardworking, resilient street vendors, I am committed to reforming this unjust and broken system,\u201d Sanchez said in a statement. \u201cNYC leaders must come together to address the broken system through legislative and administrative changes.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

One vendor\u2019s struggle<\/p>\n

Underscoring the difficulties of obtaining a permit, Guadalupe Sosa, a second-generation street vendor in Harlem, said it took her mother 23 years to get off the waitlist, which she was on, earlier this year. Sosa, who sells shaved ice and fresh fruit at her stall in Harlem, has not even been able to apply for the waitlist.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The City Council voted earlier in the year to decriminalize street vending, reducing the maximum fine that a vendor can receive for operating without a permit from $1,000 to $250.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n

But Sosa insisted that the fines can still be devastating for vendors throughout the city.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t think it\u2019s that much of a help if we\u2019re still going to keep on getting tickets,\u201d she said. \u201cThey\u2019re not criminal tickets, but there\u2019s still tickets that street vendors financially cannot pay for because we\u2019re always getting targeted.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

A spokesperson for the City Council stated that the proposed legislation is currently undergoing a \u201cdeliberative\u201d process, which allows for public input.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n

Council Member Justin Brannan, lead sponsor of Intro 1332, said the legislation is part of a \u201cbigger fight for fairness\u201d in the New York City economy. He said delivery apps have deactivated workers\u2019 accounts after classifying some orders that took too long as \u201cfraud\u201d and accused apps of pressuring workers to \u201ccut corners\u201d and travel at an unlawful speed to keep their jobs.<\/p>\n

Brannan cited the city\u2019s new e-bike speed limits, which came into effect on Oct. 24 and limits e-bike speed to 15 mph in New York City, stating that delivery workers will be forced to compromise street safety in order to avoid having their accounts deactivated.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cHere in New York City, you don\u2019t get to build billion-dollar empires on the backs of workers and then treat those workers like they don\u2019t matter,\u201d Brannan said. \u201cWe want these essential workers to know that we see them, we hear them, and we\u2019ve got their back. This is part of a bigger fight for fairness in the gig economy.\u201d<\/p>\n

Delivery workers \u2018don\u2019t want to go out\u2019
\n\"PhotoPhoto by Shane O\u2019Brien.<\/p>\n

Wednesday\u2019s rally also took place against the backdrop of a highly-publicized ICE raid<\/a> in Chinatown last week, when a number of immigrant vendors were arrested on Canal Street on Oct. 21.\u00a0<\/p>\n

A number of protesters said Wednesday that they have noticed an uptick in fear among both vendors and delivery workers since President Donald Trump took office in January.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n

William Medina, a delivery worker and member of the Workers\u2019 Justice Project, said Trump\u2019s immigration agenda has created a \u201cdifficult situation\u201d for the city\u2019s majority immigrant delivery workforce.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThey (delivery workers) don\u2019t want to go out,\u201d Medina said.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n

Sosa, on the other hand, said she has seen a noticeable rise in fear among street vendors since Trump took office in January.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n

\u201cSome of our street vendors are not working five days like they used to,\u201d Sosa said. \u201cNow they\u2019re working less.\u201d\u00a0\n<\/p>\n

She said last week\u2019s ICE raid served as an \u201ceye-opener\u201d for the city\u2019s vendor community.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n

A Council spokesperson said Intro 47-B, which decriminalized street vending, has helped reduce the exposure of immigrant vendors to ICE. However, the Council emphasized that the package of legislation currently making its way through the Council \u201ccannot prevent the irresponsible actions by ICE.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThe deployment of militarized federal agents on Canal Street did nothing to keep our communities safe, but was part of an effort to create fear and chaos in our City,\u201d a Council spokesperson said in a statement. \u201cOver the summer, the Council passed an important law to protect New Yorkers and reduce vendors\u2019 risk of being targeted by ICE, overriding Mayor Adams\u2019 veto.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

City Comptroller Brad Lander, meanwhile, said the \u201cunjust punishment\u201d of street vendors and delivery workers has left them at risk of targeting by ICE and called on the Council to pass the package of legislation.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cStreet vendors and deliveristas are not just critical to the cultural and economic fabric of our city, they are our neighbors, and it\u2019s time the Council takes up these bills to end the bureaucratic chaos and allow them to safely provide the services New Yorkers want without fear of xenophobic harassment,\u201d Lander said in a statement.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"More than 100 street vendors and delivery drivers rallied outside City Hall on Wednesday morning to urge the…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":343299,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5122],"tags":[5229,6626,13239,169072,45101,24581,169073,405,403,5226,5225,5228,5227,169074,74660,169075,67,586,132,5230,169076,68,2969],"class_list":{"0":"post-343298","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-york","8":"tag-america","9":"tag-brad-lander","10":"tag-city-hall","11":"tag-deliveristas","12":"tag-delivery-workers","13":"tag-justin-brannan","14":"tag-los-deliveristas-unidos","15":"tag-new-york","16":"tag-new-york-city","17":"tag-newyork","18":"tag-newyorkcity","19":"tag-ny","20":"tag-nyc","21":"tag-pierina-ana-sanchez","22":"tag-street-vendor","23":"tag-street-vendor-project","24":"tag-united-states","25":"tag-united-states-of-america","26":"tag-unitedstates","27":"tag-unitedstatesofamerica","28":"tag-urban-justice-center-street-vendor-project","29":"tag-us","30":"tag-usa"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115463549579669368","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/343298","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=343298"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/343298\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/343299"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=343298"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=343298"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=343298"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}