NYPD Still Slapping Street Vendors With Criminal Charges Despite Council Law Requiring Civil Charges

by Gwynne Hogan

This article was originally published on March 20 2:58 p.m. EDT by THE CITY

NYPD officers have hit street vendors in Manhattan and Brooklyn with at least seven criminal summonses for vending since a new law went into effect 10 days ago that’s supposed to eliminate such charges.

The seven summonses reported to the Street Vendor Project appear to be an early indication that the NYPD hasn’t trained officers to abide by the new law.

NYPD data for the total number of summons issued since the new law took effect on March 9 isn’t yet available.

“It’s a big culture shift for NYPD,” said Street Vendor Project Co-Director Mohamed Attia, pointing to the 3,662 criminal summonses issued by NYPD officers last year.

“It should have necessitated widespread education within the department to make sure that officers are aware of the laws that have changed and how that would affect their work — so street vendors, our city’s smallest business owners, do not have to suffer the consequences.”

THE CITY reviewed photos shared by the Street Vendor Project of seven criminal summonses issued to five different vendors in Manhattan and Brooklyn to vendors for failing to display their license, failing to display food prices and being too close to a bus stop, curb or hydrant — all things that should have been civil violations under the new law.

An NYPD spokesperson said in an emailed statement that the department was “continuing to train officers on the change in the law.”

“The new law does not entirely prohibit the issuance of criminal court summonses for unlicensed general vending,” the spokesperson added, saying repeat offenders could also still be subject to criminal summonses, though it was unclear which section of the law the spokesperson was referring to. The NYPD did not return a request for clarification.

Victoria Opperman, a spokesperson for City Councilmember Shekar Krishnan, who wrote the new law, wasn’t able to immediately confirm that assertion.

The NYPD spokesperson also said they had not been able to locate records of the summonses provided by THE CITY — none of which for unlicensed general vending.

Sam Raskin, a spokesperson for Mayor Zohran Mamdani, said City Hall would defer comment to the NYPD. Mamdani repeatedly said on the campaign trail that he didn’t think street vending should be a quality-of-life concern for the NYPD.

Under the new law, vendors without licenses can now be charged with a criminal violation, rather than a misdemeanor.

If a vendor with a license violates what are known as “time, place and manner” restrictions, those are now civil infractions. Advocates have long said that criminal charges can lead to negative legal consequences for vendors, many of whom are immigrants.

“Nothing has changed. Every day they’re writing tickets in the street,” said Adham, a 23-year-old halal food vendor, who spoke in Arabic through a translator and who declined to share his last name, fearing retaliation.

He was hit with a criminal summons over the weekend for failing to display his vending license and has to appear in Criminal Court at the end of March or face a warrant for his arrest.

In the months before the new law took effect, Adham said he’d received more than a dozen criminal summonses in addition to a flurry of civil summonses issued by the Department of Sanitation and the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, which are also tasked with street vendor enforcement.

“It’s every day, four maybe five [civil summonses],” he said. “Yesterday I got two.”

The decriminalization bill passed the Council last June, only to be vetoed by outgoing Mayor Eric Adams. The Council voted to override his veto last fall.

Krishnan said NYPD officials told the Council last week they were reviewing training efforts to make sure officers understood the law.

“We are in touch with NYPD about these summonses, and we will be monitoring compliance closely,” he said.

Mayor Bill de Blasio had pulled the NYPD out of vendor enforcement in 2020, turning endorsement over to the Health and Sanitation Departments. But Mayor Eric Adams restored the police role, with vendors then facing a surge in criminal summonses, as THE CITY reported.

Mamdani hasn’t said as mayor whether or not he would pull the police back from enforcing vendor laws, and Raskin didn’t return a request for comment about that.

The new law had been in the works for years, along with a long campaign to lift the tight restrictions on vending licenses. In December, the Council also passed another reform to lift the cap on general merchandise vendors from 853, which had been in place since the 1970s.

The same law will also add 2,200 new food vending permits annually for the next five years, which will bring the number of legal licenses up to more than 20,000 over the next few years.

Related Stories

• Sunset Park Vendors Seek Market’s Resurrection After Easter Sunday Shutdown
• Bushwick Flower Stalls Create Hubs of Peace, Small Business Opportunities for Local Immigrants
• Migrants Sell Snacks in Downtown Brooklyn While Waiting on Work Permits

Email tips@brownstoner.com with further comments, questions or tips. Follow Brownstoner on X and Instagram, and like us on Facebook.