General Vendor License Waitlists

Online comments: 10

• Michele Birnbaum

  I am submitting testimony on the new Vendor Legislation along with Resolutions on street vending passed by my Community Board 8 Manhattan where I am Co-chair of the Vendor Task Force. There will be multiple uploads.

  Comment attachment
  Testimony-Intro-0431-0431-A-0431-B-final-final.docx

  Comment added August 5, 2026 5:26pm

• Anonymous

  I support the repeal of the rule creating a waitlist for general vendor licenses. This is a stagnant, outdated area of policy that doesn’t achieve its purpose of creating order and achievable compliance incentives among street vendors, notably because the majority of street vendors across NYC (irrespective of type) are currently operating without licenses. I support this change as part of broader street vending reform across NYC.

  Comment added August 14, 2026 2:53pm

• Tom Harris

  My name is Tom Harris, and I am the President of the Times Square Alliance. Our biggest problems in Times Square are not unlicensed vendors, but rather vendors not complying with time, place, and manner restrictions, as well as the inconsistent enforcement of those regulations. Time, place, and manner restrictions attempt to balance the competing uses of our sidewalks. Violations of these restrictions add to chaos, confusion, disorder, and they diminish the experience for the hundreds of thousands who visit Times Square daily. We would be supportive of increasing the number of vendors and restructuring the waitlist if there was an enforcement scheme that demanded and achieved compliance with existing time, place, and manner restrictions or risk revocation of the license and/or permit.

  Comment added August 17, 2026 3:26pm

• Pierina Sanchez

  Dear Commissioner Levine:

  For decades, New York City’s broken street-vending system forced hardworking vendors into the shadows, not because they refused to follow the rules, but because arbitrary license caps made compliance impossible. Local Law 54 of 2026 is a historic step toward correcting that injustice by formalizing thousands of our smallest businesses and pairing expanded access with clearer rules, education, and accountability.

  I am encouraged to see DCWP begin implementing this reform, including preserving priority for people on the existing general-vendor waitlist and recognizing vendors already working who never had a fair opportunity to join it. But reforms only matter if the people they were designed to serve can actually benefit.

  That is why I am concerned that relying too heavily on self-certification of prior vending activity could allow longtime vendors to be pushed aside. Implementation must include a meaningful, fair process to verify existing vendors and ensure those who endured years of exclusion are not left behind again.

  I therefore respectfully recommend the following:

  1. Meaningfully prioritize existing vendors

  DCWP should require applicants claiming priority as existing vendors to provide at least one form of documentation showing prior vending activity during the period specified in the proposed rule.

  Recognizing that many vendors have operated within an informal system created by the City’s restrictive licensing structure, DCWP should accept a broad and flexible range of evidence, including:
  – Dated wholesale receipts or records documenting purchases of merchandise or supplies;
  – A New York State Certificate of Authority or sales-tax filings;
  – Timestamped photographs showing the applicant vending;
  – Letters from customers, neighboring businesses, faith institutions, community organizations, elected officials, or other individuals familiar with the applicant’s vending activity; or
  – Civil or criminal summonses issued in connection with vending;

  DCWP should publish clear standards before the application period begins so vendors understand exactly what will be accepted. Applicants should also receive notice and a reasonable opportunity to clarify or supplement their submissions before being denied priority because documentation is incomplete.

  2. Design the application process around the vendor community

  The application and waitlist-enrollment process must account for language barriers, limited digital literacy, and unequal access to technology. Notices, instructions, and assistance should be available in the languages commonly spoken by vendors.

  I strongly recommend DCWP provide meaningful in-person options, including application assistance and secure drop-off locations accessible across all five boroughs because a historic expansion should not be undermined by an application process that excludes the very vendors it is intended to reach.

  The success of this reform will be measured not simply by how many applications DCWP processes, but by whether longtime vendors—especially those who endured years of exclusion and helped win this change—are able to secure licenses and participate fully in New York City’s economy. I urge DCWP to incorporate these recommendations and ensure that implementation fulfills that promise.

  Respectfully,

  Pierina Sanchez
  Council Member, District 14
  Lead Sponsor of Local Law 54 of 2026

  Comment attachment
  CM-Pierina-Sanchez-DCWP-Hearing-Comment-Street-Vending-License-Waitlist-Proposed-Rule.pdf

  Comment added August 17, 2026 4:07pm

• Nick Gulotta

  Dear Commissioner Levine,

  My name is Nick Gulotta and I write as a New Yorker who cares deeply about an equitable small business landscape and as a public servant who has worked on this topic for nearly fifteen years at the City Council and for the Mayor’s Office. My comment focuses primarily on Section § 2-319 (e) (2) of the proposed rule:

  (2) New prospective applicants requesting to be placed on such new waitlists may certify, in a form and manner as determined by the Commissioner, whether such prospective applicant engaged in vending activity as a general vendor as defined in section 20-452 or as a food vendor as defined in section 17-306 of the Administrative Code at any time between January 29, 2025 and November 2, 2026. Upon request, the applicant may be required to make records available to the Department to establish the accuracy of their certification and show proof of prior vending activity.

  I strongly believe and it is clear that our city’s street vendors overwhelmingly feel that self-certification to indicate that one has been a vendor would be unfair to longterm vendors. They have expressed that this approach could open the floodgates for people to apply for the waitlist, occupy space, and even receive priority over longterm vendors. Thousands of general vendors have served New Yorkers as they were subjected to excessive enforcement for decades. The City failed these vendors, the overwhelming majority of whom are immigrants who face barriers in the formal economy, by refusing to increase the number of licenses beyond 853. After years of organizing, these vendors recently won the first significant expansion of licenses in 47 years. DCWP should listen to these vendors and honor the spirit of the legislation that they fought for.

  The proposed rule does not elaborate on what criteria or proof DCWP will require from vendors to prove they are currently vending. I recommend that vendors should be able to present the following proofs. Other agencies such as the Human Resources Administration have used a point systems such as the one used by IDNYC to verify identity and residency. Proofs should could include:

  – Civil or criminal summonses were received while vending at any point in the past.
  – Sales tax filings.
  – Receipts of wholesale purchases of their supply and merchandise.
  – Signed letters from customers, faith leaders, elected officials, brick-and-mortar businesses, or nonprofit organizations.
  – Timestamped pictures of the applicant while vending
  – Certificate of Authority to collect sales taxes in NYS.

  I also recommend that our city’s beloved food vendors should NOT be given priority for General Vendor Licenses for the November waitlist. While important in their own right, merchandise vendors are their own category of small business. I do not know of any other waitlist maintained by city government where another category of applicant would be given priority over those who the program was actually intended for. This would not take place in waitlists maintained by NYC Public Schools, the New York Public Housing Authority, or for civil service exams, and should not take place for General Vendor Licenses.

  The proposed rule also increases the fines for violations of Administrative Code sections 20-465(g), 20-465(i), and 20-465(j). I strongly encourage the agency to provide maximum flexibility and direct a “fix-it, don’t fine-it” approach. Local Law 54 of 2026 adds new responsibilities for vendors and the expansion of licenses will lead vendors to formalize the businesses they have operated without a license for decades. It would take time and education for anyone to adapt to these changes. This rule should reflect that reality.

  Finally, the application and waitlist-enrollment process must account for language justice and limited digital literacy. Communications from DCWP to vendors and the assistance provided should be available in the languages most commonly spoken by vendors. I recommend DCWP provide in-person options and application assistance in all five boroughs.
  These are the nuts-and-bolts issues that we must address to truly deliver economic justice to New Yorkers. DCWP has an historic opportunity to demonstrate to the rest of city government what an equitable process that supports working New Yorkers can look like. Thank you for your time and consideration of my recommendations.

  Very respectfully,

  Nick Gulotta

  Comment attachment
  Proposed-General-Vendor-License-Waitlists-Rule.pdf

  Comment added August 18, 2026 1:55pm

• 'Anonymous'.)

  Greeting’s i think order. of this manner has a better way to help us vendor’s. keep RESPECT. for ourself’s and our work space.[i look forword to see ya’ll out there doing good thing’s because that’s what i’am about.. keeping it real.

  Comment added August 19, 2026 8:30am

• Camilla St.Louis

  Can Permits be set aside for MWBE certified vendors ?

  Comment added August 19, 2026 10:22am

• Ahmed Hassan

  my name’s Ahmed Hassan (four years vendor).
  I love to work as a vendor to deal with the NYC tourists with friendly and funny way and to give them the best impression about NYC. But I need to work legally by having the street vendor license as hiring a licensed veteran is so expensive .my work doesn’t affect the traffic , and taking my stuff by the Sanatation then getting a big ticket is affecting all my life.please allow me to have the license do we can afford the expenses of our life .I have three kids and need this license .I can’t work any other job but vending.

  thank you

  Comment added August 19, 2026 12:29pm

• Dondi McKellar

  See attached files.

  Comment attachment
  Public_Hearing_Testimony_August_19_2026_McKellar.pdf

  Comment added August 19, 2026 12:36pm

• NYC Council Member Amanda Farías

  Wednesday, August 19, 2026

  Good Afternoon,

  I want to thank the Department of Consumer and Worker Protection for holding this public hearing, working with the City Council through the passage of the Street Vendor Reform Package to this day, and hearing testimony on these critical rules related to vending. I look forward to the completion of the rule-making process, the installation of new systems within the reformed street vendor licensing framework, and the rollout of new licenses for the first time in decades that will bring vendors into compliance while simultaneously fixing our broken and neglected system.

  In New York City, there are over 23,000 Vendors that serve their fellow community members, neighbors, and the tourists visiting this city. They serve us, increase economic activity, and foster the culture that makes this city thrive while creating jobs, bringing neighborhoods together, and serving as an integral part of this city’s fabric.

  However, because of the city’s bureaucracy and outdated caps on licenses set in the 1970s that prevented growth alongside the city’s rising population, thousands of vendors were forced into an underground and unregulated economy, targeted by city enforcement, and, occasionally, confronted with criminal charges in a system they could not escape from. The former system prevented compliance, while the new system will bring about compliance, regulation, and a workable system for the city and street vendors to operate within.

  The proposed rulemaking follows the spirit of the Street Vendor Package by creating the structures to expand general vending licensing while ensuring that those who have fairly waited their turn have access to those new licenses.

  The proposed rules allow individuals who have applied and have waited for years, in order of their applications, to receive a license first, followed by those who are currently vending during the application period from November 2 to December 16, 2026. This process, giving primacy to those who have been waiting and are currently vending, both follows the spirit of Local Law 54 of 2026 and allows those individuals, acting in good faith and who have been waiting for years, to escape the legal and administrative limbo of the former system that hurt thousands of New Yorkers. Then, following these two groups, any new applicant can apply and, subject to the waitlist, receive a license.

  With this rulemaking, the old general vending structure will be gone and, with the new Division of Street Vendor Assistance within the Department of Small Business Services and enforcement tied to vending, the new system will be robust, compliance-based, fair, and up-to-date with the current realities of our city rather than the 1970s.

  Though there is still more work to be done, from rollout to managing enforcement within the new system, this is a major step towards correcting the injustices and systemic incongruencies that New York City Vendors have faced for decades. This new system will ensure that those good-faith, compliant vendors within New York City will be able to work, strive, prosper, and succeed while strengthening the city’s economy, adding to the New York experience, and enriching our streets for the benefit of all New Yorkers and anyone who wishes to visit our great city.

  Respectfully Submitted,

  Hon. Amanda Farías
  Council Member, District 18
  New York City Council

  Comment attachment
  08.19.26-CM-Farias-Dept-Consumer-Worker-Protection-Hearing-Testimony.pdf

  Comment added August 19, 2026 4:10pm