Fake Consensus-Driven Street Vendor Advisory Board Report

Fake Consensus-Driven Street Vendor Advisory Board Report
Below is a link to the report produced by the newly-formed Street Vendor Advisory Board and to
the press release by Mayor Eric Adams announcing it.

It is titled, "Consensus Driven Street Vendor Advisory Board Report" because it is pretending
to represent a consensus [definition: general agreement, unanimity]; a completely false
notion that NYC's vendors unanimously agreed to whatever new rules and restrictions
this board, appointed by the Mayor, decides.

According to the report, the board members consist of the following people, all of whom are either
BID (Business Improvement District) representatives; members or directors of SVP
(The Street Vendor Project); real estate executives; or NYC officials:

Designees from five city agencies: DCWP, DOHMH, DOT, NYPD, and SBS;
Mohamed Attia, executive director, Street Vendor Project (street vendor representative);
Murad Awawdeh, executive director, New York Immigration Coalition (NYIC) (community organization representative);
Cheikh Boubacar Fall, U.S. military veteran and street vendor (street vendor representative);
David Estrada, executive director, Sunset Park Business Improvement District (BID) (small business representative);
Regina Myer, president, Downtown Brooklyn Partnership (small business representative);
Randy Peers, president and CEO, Brooklyn Chamber of Commerce (small business representative);
Sonia Perez, street vendor and member, Street Vendor Project Leadership Board (street vendor representative);
Matthew Shapiro, legal director, Street Vendor Project (street vendor representative);
Reggie Thomas, senior vice president, Real Estate Board of New York (REBNY) (property owner representative); and
Aly Waddy, secretary-treasurer, UFCW Local 1500 (food retail worker representative).

Before you give the Mayor credit for at least appointing one or two "vendors" to the panel,
keep in mind that SVP is a front group for the NYC Council. They have done more to harm
the cause of vendors than any other organization or elected official. They claim to represent
all NYC vendors, when in fact they represent a small number of illegal food vendors. They
wrote the law (Intro #1116) that created this awful panel that will decide all vending issues
for years to come.

The consensus that this panel represents is the agreement among BIDs, real estate interests,
store owners and City officials that vending needs to be limited; corporatized; and sanitized.

Among the recommendations are to relocate vendors to municipal parking lots,
"community vending marketplaces," and other less than ideal locations. This is exactly what
was done in the 1940s by NYC Mayor Fiorello LaGuardia. Sidewalk vending
was banned. All vendors had to relocate into a handful of markets.

The only "consensus" this board came to was that the BIDs will get their way, and that SVP
once again sold out every NYC vendor.

Street Vendor Advisory Board Report

https://www1.nyc.gov/assets/dca/downloads/pdf/partners/SVAB-Report-2022.pdf

Mayor Adams press release
https://www1.nyc.gov/office-of-the-mayor/news/331-22/mayor-adams-steps-reform-modernize-vending-regulations-expanding-legal

Robert Lederman, President of ARTIST
artistpres@gmail.com