Street vendors in Queens rally for more permits, ask for less police enforcement and fines

(@QnsBPRichards/ Twitter)

By Isoken Osagie

(QUEENS, N.Y.) Thousands of street vendors rallied in Corona on Wednesday to petition for an increase in permit distributions across the city.

Vivien Grullon, a Peruvian immigrant, has sold jewelry on Roosevelt Avenue almost every day for the past decade, reported to NY1.

However, she does not have a street vending permit and lives in fear of being fined.

“I am feeling so sad. Because I come here for my dream, my USA dream,” said Grullon. "I am working hard here. I no bother nobody."

Grullon has been waiting to get a permit for almost eight years, and said it took her 85-year-old mother 25 years to get her permit because the city had placed an annual cap on the issuance of permits years ago.

“I can’t wait 25 years,” said Grullon.

In January, the city council passed a bill to add 4,000 new street vendor permits over the next decade, however, street vendors say that is not good enough.

According to Street Vendor Project, an advocacy group representing New York City vendors, workers lost about 90% of their income during the COVID-19 pandemic.

“People didn’t have any relief, any support from the government. And now they are back to work, trying to survive. But now they are being threatened by several departments, several agencies that they will be ticketed and they will be evicted from the locations they work on,” said Mohamad Attia, the managing director of the Street Vendor Project, per NY1.

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