VAMOS Unidos along with The Latin American Project (LAWP) have been holding meetings with council members to push for hearings on Intro 324A. After more than 2 years, city council’s chair of the Department of Consumer Affairs, Council Member Leroy Comrie, finally held the hearings on November 14th, 2008.
Our pressure on city council has paid off. 2 years ago the subject of increasing the caps was not even on the table and was treated as taboo by many council members. Today, it is clear that there needs to be an increase of the street vending caps due in fact to the relentless work by street vendors of VAMOS Unidos.
VAMOS Unidos showed up very well represented with over 60 street vendors carefully listening to the testimonies and response of council members. There was an overwhelming support for legislation 324A by community members and street vendors.
To our surprise, the office of the Mayor Bloomberg’s ‘solution’ with dealing with working individuals was to immediately arrest them and fingerprint vendors that are not able to get licenses as a result of the unnecessary limits on permits. Council Member Barron, stood up and stated “I feel very insulted that you [the mayors’s office] would come here with a page and a half that is talking about fingerprinting!” VAMOS Unidos quickly responded to this blatant attack on street vendors by the mayor’s office and are currently awaiting a response for an accountability meeting with the mayor’s office who praised street vendors as a solution to bringing healthy foods into poor communities with his Green Cart Legislation which passed earlier this year.
The mayor’s office proposal was evidently drowned out by the overwhelming testimony from community members, organizations, and street vendors supporting 324A and denouncing any legislation to further limit street vending.
Victoriana and Berta, street vendors and members of VAMOS Unidos testified at the hearing. Victoriana is a street vendor, a single mother of two, and currently fighting brain cancer. She testified of her multiple arrests, fines, and ill treatment by police since there is currently no access to any food cart permits. Furthermore, Victoriana stated that she pays federal and state sales taxes on anything she sells. She is a registered food vendor and has a personal food vending license but cannot apply for a food cart permit. Berta is the co-founder of VAMOS Unidos. She is one of the few fully licensed street vendors. Berta was there to testify on the harsh conditions she and her colleagues face and that there is an alarming need for a substantial increase of the street vendor food cart permits.
TO READ VAMOS UNIDOS’s TESTIMONY CLICK HERE
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