Black Market for Food Vendor Permits

El Diario, July 8th 2008

New York –Marco Tulio Valencia, 77 years old, sells garlic sausages and round
maize loaves in a food cart every day. He pushes his cart along Roosevelt Avenue,
in Queens, until arriving at 83rd St
reet
.“Ihaveal
way
sbeeni
nthi
scor
ner
”,ex
plai
ns
Valencia. He mentioned that he was finally able to get his own permit nine years ago.
Before, he was required to rent the permit from someone else to sell food from a cart.
“
Thel
i
censesf
orvendor
sare easy to get, but the permit for the carts is nearly
i
mpossi
bl
etoobt
ain.
”says Valencia. In order to sell food in carts in New York City,
two permits are needed. There is no limit on food vendor licenses. However,
obtaining a permit for the cart is quite difficult. In 1983, the Department of Health
stipulated a maximum of 3,100 permits with validity of two years and 1,000
temporary permits (from the April 1 to the October 31). This limit was instated to
reduce the number of food carts in the city. The result of this high demand for
permits have created a black market for permit renting, in which those that legally
own the carts rent them to t
hosewhoneedt
heper
mitt
owor
k.“
Theyr
entt
heper
mit
s
for two years at $6,000, whereas renewing the permits only cost $200. It is good
business,”r
eveal
sVal
enci
a.“
Her
e,onRoosev
eltAvenue,t
hemaj
ori
tyoft
hepeopl
e
who are seen working rent t
heper
mitf
rom somebody
”,comment
sVal
enci
a.
Although renting permits is illegal, the business still exists, said the ownerofSt
evi
e’
s.
St
evi
e’si
sthesecond largest manufacturer of food carts in the city and is criticized
for renting cart per
mit
s.TheGr
eekownerofSt
evi
e’sdeni
edt
heacc
usat
ion.“
I,her
e,
onl
yrentc
art
s,t
heymustgett
hei
rownper
mit
s”,heass
ured.Sean Basinsky,
director of the Street Vendor Project, is dedicated to fight for the rights of the
vendors in New York City. He t
hinkst
hati
ti
snotr
ightt
orentt
heper
mit
s.“
Nobody
becomes rich acquiring $6,000ever
ytwoy
ear
s”Basi
nsk
isay
s,“
Thepr
obl
em is in
the handsoft
heDepar
tmentofHeal
th.
”The city would have to give more permits or
recirculate those existing permits to those who are working at the carts,”Basinski
adds. The Department of Health has confirmed that the permit renting of carts is
illegal and that the amount of permits that are given out is regulated by the
administrative code of the city. The authorization to increase the number of permits
must come from the Municipal Council, not from them.
Tenecla and her husband, Chimbay, had to invest $8,000 to sell fruits from June to
October last year on Roosevelt Avenue and 74th Street. Both had to rent two permits
priced at $2,000 each and, in addition, buy two carts, which cost another $2,000
each.“
Somet
i
mesi
tisnotwor
ththe pain, it is too much work. There are too many
fines. The police and the Department of Health are always writing fines,”c
omment
s
Tenecla. Today, Tenecla and Chimbay are no longer in business. She takes care of
their newborn and her husband works in construction. Nevertheless, when walking
by Roosevelt Avenue in Queens, there are food vendors everywhere. Endless
numbers of carts are taken care of by Hispanics, as they sell everything from
quesadillas, hot dogs, peanut, ice creams and fruits. However, very few actually own
their own permits. A peanut vendor, who asked to be unnamed, has been working
for 11 years as food vendor. The company for which he works for has nine carts
distributed in Jackson Heights. None of the nine carts is taken care of by the owners
of the per
mit
s.“
Thelicensed person that works behind the cart that pays the taxes is
the one that must own the permit. He should not to be gaining onl
y40% oft
hepr
ofi
t”
,
sai
dtheEastEcuador
ianvendor
.“Towor
kfors
omeoneel
se’
scar
tisnoti
l
legal
”
explains Basi
nsky
.“The renting of permits in exchange for $6000, however, is
i
l
legal
.”Hec
lar
if
ies.“
Themos
tunj
ustt
hingi
sthef
inest
hatar
egi
vent
ous
,thos
e
who work at the carts and not to the owners of the permits. They [the owners] are in
their houses and making money,”a vendor said. The solution, according to Basinsky,
would be to redistribute the permits. In his opinion, this problem is not only that of the
Department of Health and the owners of the carts: “
Iti
sil
l
egalbutt
hepol
i
cedonot
do anything about this matter. The two parties benefit, therefore, nobody wants to
expose the problem butt
hesy
stem i
sinef
fi
ci
ent
”,Basinski concludes.

Carmen.alarcon@eldiariony.com