News & Press

Mother Jones

According to the New York City-based Street Vendor Project, which is part of the nonprofit advocacy organization the Urban Justice Center, most of the city’s 20,000 vendors are immigrants and people of color—the very groups most vulnerable to racist policing. City cops have issued an average of 18,000 tickets to vendors annually over the past three years.

New York Times

The Street Vendor Project of the Urban Justice Center, an advocacy group, estimates that there are 10,000 to 20,000 vendors across the five boroughs. But only 853 people receive nonfood permits, and only about 5,000 can legally vend food, according to Matthew Shapiro, the center’s legal director.

Food & Wine

This news was well received by the Street Vendor Project of the Urban Justice Center, which has been working towards the decriminalization of street vending for the past two decades—but the group also says there is still work to be done when it comes to ensuring that vendors can operate in the city without the fear of being arrested for minor infractions.

Grub Street

In response to the news, the Street Vendor Project released a statement calling the announcement “a major step forward to reaching our goal of legalizing street vending in New York City.” But the organization — while repeating its support for others calling on the mayor to defund the NYPD — says that it will hold de Blasio accountable for the words.

Black Star News

The Street Vendor Project of the Urban Justice Center joins demands put forward by Communities United for Police Reform, Black Alliance for Just Immigration, Decrim NY, and Black Youth Project for the NYPD to be defunded, and resources be redirected to supporting Black communities who have been, and continue to be, disproportionately impacted by COVID-19 and targeted by police violence.

Streets Blog NYC

Street vendors, who for decades have fought official harassment for the right to operate their businesses, must play a central role in any city effort to extend street and sidewalk dining. It’s simply a matter of equity.