De Blasio aims to revive plan adding thousands more food cart permits
Perhaps the city should start thinking about congestion pricing for sidewalks.
Mayor Bill de Blasio says he wants to revive a plan to add more than 3,000 street food cart permits over the next decade and is “hopeful” he and the City Council can reach a deal this year.
Currently, the city caps the number at 5,100 — creating a black market where the two-year, $200 permits can sell for as much as $25,000.
“We were very, very close last December with the last City Council,” de Blasio told a town hall audience on the Upper West Side last week. “It didn’t get there. There was a disagreement at the end, and it fell apart.”
He was responding to a question from an 8-year-old girl about why her street-vendor mom was “promised” a permit last year and still hasn’t gotten it.
The mayor then turned to Councilwoman Helen Rosenthal (D-Manhattan), who was sitting nearby, and said, “We’re trying to get the legislation back on track. So we’re gonna work with the council member and her colleagues. I am certainly hopeful we can pass it this year.”
During her final days in office, former Council Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito tried to push through a bill that would have increased the number of street cart permits by roughly 330 a year over 10 years.
But she yanked the measure in December after failing to round up the minimum 26 votes required.
De Blasio had raised objections at the time, saying he wanted stronger enforcement measures included. Business leaders also complained that the influx of vendors would be unfair competition.
No new version of the bill has been drafted.
The current council speaker, Corey Johnson, sided with de Blasio last year.
Mayoral spokeswoman Jane Meyer said the administration is committed to helping street vendors while also protecting rent-paying businesses.
“We must also ensure that our streets are orderly and the brick-and-mortar businesses that are the backbone of our communities are able to thrive. This is why permitting reform and enforcement measures should go hand in hand,” she said.
The Street Vendor Project, which represents more than 1,800 vendors, accused de Blasio of killing last year’s bill because “big real estate and labor called him.”
The group also said it is “great to hear” de Blasio is reconsidering a permit expansion. In an email to The Post, the advocacy group added that the mayor has a “chance to be a hero to hard-working immigrant and veteran entrepreneurs.”