VENDOR NEWSLETTER

Street Vendor Project Spring 2005

666 Broadway, 5th Floor (646) 602-5679
New York, NY 10012 or (646) 602-5681
Leadership Board
Khaled Abouelkhair
Emad Ali
New SVP Leadership Board !
Mohammed Ali
Zenab Bangoura
Luther Bolden
Moustapha Cisse
Janis Collado
Josue Echavaria
Diba Gaye
Sophia Laskaris
Mohammed Miah
M’ bayeMo us s
a
Angelo Vega
Sheldon Velazquez
Michael Wells
James Williams

Staff Organizer
Judi Mukarhinda

Project Director By a resound- To prow: Lu

therBo l
d en,Kh aledAb o u el
k h air,Mic ha elWe l
ls
,Mo u st
aphaCi sse, M’
b ay eMo ussa,Di
b aGa ye, Mo h amme
Mohammed Miah, James Williams; Bottom Row: Josue Echavaria, Sheldon Velazquez, Illiassou Alhassane (not on Board),
dAli
,
women,
Sean Basinski ing unanimous Zenab Bangoura, Sophia Laskaris, A.J. Laskaris (not on Board), Angelo Vega. Not Pictured: Emad Ali and Janis Collado. three vet-
vote, all ven- eran ven-
Interns and volunteers dors present at the June monthly meeting of the dors, five food vendors, a book vendor, an art
Emilie Bouvier Street Vendor Project elected sixteen of their own vendor, and several general merchandise ven-
Ryan Devlin dors.
to the new Leadership Board. More than a hun-
Matt Furshong
dred vendors turned out on a sweltering hot night Before the vote, every board nominee
Benjamin Galynker
Katie Neilson and jammed into the cramped SVP offices to elect made a short speech giving ideas for the future
N’de yeSa kho their representatives. It was one of the strongest direction of the organization. Common themes
Sara Sluszka turnouts in SVP history. in the speeches included unity, responsibility,
Binan Xu The new board consists of committed lead- commitment, and political strength. The board
ers from all walks of life and with many different members will serve for a period of one year.
types of businesses. The group includes three Congratulations to the new board members!

INSIDE: Planters Bloom Like Spring Flowers

•Hal
alhubbub.
.
..
..
.
.p.2

•MemberPr
ofi
l
e..
..
.p.2 The Street Vendor Project has almost everywhere, usually illegally. ing owner, but only after a serious
been receiving more calls than “Ihav eaf amilyt ofee d,”s a i
dMo- dispute that almost turned violent.
•I
ntr
o621.
..
..
.
...
.
..
..
.p.
3 ever this spring about hammed Miah, Most planters on
•T
ruc
kfors
ale.
..
..
..
.p.3 the proliferation of who arrived at the street are illegal.
concrete planters work one day on The SVP is working
•SVPT
-shirts ........... p. 3 blocking the sidewalk. 30th Street near hard to get the city
As the city continues Broadway, only to address this prob-
•MemberI
nfo.
.
...
.
..
.p.3
to fail to enforce the to find plants lem, so please call us
•I
nMemor
y..
.
...
.
..
..
.
.p.4 laws on these illegal blocking his at (646) 602-5681 to
obstructions, business owners spot.“The seplantsa reo nly report any planters
and building managers have taki
ng up s idewa lks pac e.” Mi a h that are in your legal vending
been emboldened to place them found a compromise with the build- place.
Page 2
Halal Vendor Demands Right To Stay
In Midwood, a largely Paki- rant across the street had
stani neighborhood in a quiet complained about him taking
part of central Brooklyn, ven- the irbus iness.“ Theya rea
dor Riaz Khan restaurant,
” he
serves spicy said.“ Iamj usta
chicken and vendor in a For a while, Khan was
rice from the truck.”
grill inside his Mr. Kh a n
truck. In May, very politely
police officers agreed to move
told him to his truck away
move his busi- from the restau-
ness elsewhere rant. But he did
because he was Bu yt
h i
sma n
’sc
hicken! not agree that the
vending on Avenue was re-
Coney Island Avenue, which stricted. Rather than take the
they said was a restricted pol ice’swor df ori t
,het ooka
street. Additionally, the restau- trip to 42 Broadway to get the
Member Profile: Mahbooba Parwana
My name is Mahbooba Par- there ’
sn obu siness.Th e nmy
wana, but people call me cousin told me about street
Maria. I was born in Af- vending. I like what I do now
ghanistan and came to the because no one will tell me
US in 1993, following my what to do, and I take care of
husband, when I was just everything myself, and I like
19. I sell fruits at the corner talking to my costumers.
of 28th and Park Avenue. I I am currently divorced,
have also worked at restau- but I have two kids, a 10-year-
rants like KFC, Taco Bell, old son and a 9-year-old
and at a delivery company. da ugh t
e r
.I t’sh a r
d be ing a
I started vending three single working mom, but I
years ago because the res- de alwi t
hi t.Idon ’twa ntt o
tauran tIwor k edf orwa sn’t depend on any men to be able
doin g we l
l,a nd I wa sn’t tol ive.I t
’sbe t
tertoj ustdoi t
making very good money. you rself.Idon ’th ave ma ny
My boss would tell me to go problems as a woman vendor
home on some days because on the streets, except for the
Intro 621—Update
This Spring the vending com-
munity has been filled with
talk about a dramatic new pro-
posal, known as Intro. 621 and
introduced by City Council
Member Philip Reed, to radi-
ca l
lyr eshapeNYC’ sv endi
ng
laws.
Intro. 621 contains many
changes the SVP has been
asking for for a long time.
First, it increases the number
of general vending licenses by
almost 1,200. Second, it re-
official list. Afterward, sharing presence around his cart, his
his plight with a downtown business dropped off as custom-
vendor, Mr. Khan learned ers shied away: in this Muslim
about the SVP and called us community, many people are
for advice. wary of the police after 9-11.
But lately things have been
stil
lg ett
ingt i
ck ets.“ Thepol i
c e looking up. The SVP discovered
told me my truck would be the problem—the precinct was
towe di fIdi dn ’
tmov e ”,he using the list of streets restricted
said. They made him shut to general vendors, but Khan is
down twice, and he had to a food vendor. We wrote a letter
throw away all the meat. He to the precinct demanding they
presented his official list of stop. In the meantime, Mr. Khan
restricted streets to the officers. has joined the cause of vendor
Coney Island Avenue was no- unity.“ Whe nIwa salone ,i twa s
where on the list, but still the notp os siblet obe a
tt hem, ”h e
officers keep writing him tick- said.“ Buti tc anha ppe ni fwe
ets. Due to the heavy police wor kt og ether.”
harassment from police and know how to read and write.
store owners. If you want me to
The police stop vending, will
sometimes you hire me in-
give me tick- stead? ” He di dn
’t
ets unreasona- say anything back.
bly and the These people are
store owner so unreasonable
always tries to sometimes. They
keep me away don ’tc ar
ea bout
from the hardworking peo-
streets by put- ple who just want
ting planters make a living.
on the side- Th at
’s why I
walk or trying like the Street Ven-
to close the streets. Once I dor Project. We are all good
just walked into the store and people, and we will fight for
a skedt hema na
g er,“ Idon ’
t our rights until the end.
duces the fines that ECB has idea, which was designed to
continued to hike, despite our reduce counterfeit licenses.
best efforts to prevent them Some vendors also objected to
from doing so. Third, it the provision that would limit
opens up every one of the the number of vendors to 6 per
hundreds of desirable city block.
blocks that have been closed Facing political pressure dur-
to vendors over the years. ing an election year, the city
However, the bill gener- caved to the business commu-
ated controversy in the vend- nity, withdrawing its support for
ing community for several the bill. Now, the City Council is
reasons. First, vendors who working on re-drafting the bill,
did not want to be finger- and SVP will be working with
printed objected to this new Council Member Reed to do so.
 Page 3

Sign up for Membership !

Join the 300 members who have already shown their committment

Benefits Street Vendor Project

Membership Card
● ECBT i
cketsandappeals Expiration date: 06/08/06
● SalesTaxHelp
● CriminalCourt(
somecas es) Ali, Abdul
● Forfei
ture&LicenseRevocations ID No 296
● LicenseandPermitsApplicati
ons 666 Broadway, NY, NY 10012
www.streetvendor.org

● Helpwi t
hFili
ngPoli
ceCompl ai
nts Sean Basinski, Director

● FreeCamer aand25f oottapemeas ur

e
●I DBadge( seesample,ri
ght),newslet
ter(
fourt imesay ear )
● VoteinAnnualElecti
ons,andmor e!

DUES = $100 per year

The Street Vendor Project FOR SALE:

MONTHLY
needs MEETING
your 2nd Tuesday of month
support ! @ 7.30 pm
●Al
Deluxe Food Service Truck
lAcces
sori
esI
ncl
.Gril
l●Co f
feeMachi
ne
July 12, 2005
Wear our ● St e
am Tabl
e● WaterTanks●Stov
e●Re -
August 9, 2005
T-shirt for frig.● El
ectr
icGe
ner
atorf
orAllAppli
ance
s

only $10. ONLY $16,000 –call (917) 755-0583 September 13, 2005

SVP Reclaims Space at South Street Seaport

Where does private property end and
public space begin? This May, a hot dog
vendor (and SVP member) decided to
set up in what he thought would be a
good spot near the South Street Seaport.
The Seaport is a major tourist attraction;
more than 10 million people visit it
every year.
But instead of hungry tourists, he
met angry security guards from Seaport
Marketplace LLC, a real estate company
that owns the nearby buildings. A dozen
guards surrounded the vendor and tried
to intimidate him. They knocked over
his sodas, pushed his cart into the street,
and called the police. South Street is not This man had an organization behind
a restricted street, so what was the prob- him with 300 members.
lem?I twa s“ priva t
epr op- A little library re-
erty,”t heg u ardsc laimed. search soon showed
What private property? that the area was not
It looked like a public so private after all.
space to us. The vendor The company wanted
stood his ground. The First to create their own
Precinct said he had to go. shopping mall. Nice
But with help from SVP, try.Th e ydi dn’tk now
he explained his case to the about vendor power.
NYPD legal bureau. Many No vending zone? Think again. The hot dog man got
vendors had tried to vend permission to stay, and
there before and gotten their carts together we scored another win for
seized. But this time it was different. vendors (and their customers) in NYC.
 Street Vendor Project
666 Broadway, 5th Floor
New York, NY 10012
(646) 602-5679
(646) 602-5681
www.urbanjustice.org

i
ndi
vidualr
ight
s•s
oci
alc
hange

Mamemor Kebe, a much was so honest that he if he

loved and well-respected bought an item for $3 he
street vendor who had sold would sell it for only $5,
on Water Street in down- even if he could have got-
town Manhattan since ten much more.
1991, was tragically killed As a devout Muslim,
in a car accident in his Kebe respected others and
home country of Senegal always sought to avoid
on May 5, 2005. He was a conflict. He made sure his
member of the Street Ven- fellow vendors had enough
dor Project and he will be space to work. And once,
sorely missed. when a friend of his had a
At a recent meeting problem with a policeman,
shortly after his death, instead of complaining, he
vendors remembered Kebe went to the mosque and
as one of the most honest, prayed that the problem be
generous, and hard- resolved. It was.
working men they knew. The SVP has already
“He c all
ede veryone ‘ my raised $480 to send along
friend,’e vent he pol ice
Mamemor Kebe
to the wife and four young
when they were giving him daughters Kebe left behind
at icket,
”r eme mbe r
e da in Senegal. Donations may
vendor who knew him for
15 years. Kebe knew the
1956 –
2005 be made in cash or via
checks made out to Street
people in the neighborhood Vendor Project, Kebe Fund
and waved at them when at 666 Broadway.
they passed by. And he