Illegal Street Vendors "Overtaking" NYC And The Entire City is Blaming Bill De Blasio

Illegal Street Vendors "Overtaking" NYC And The Entire City is Blaming Bill De Blasio Another day, yet another way in which Comrade De Blasio is turning New York City into a third world country. In addition to murders rising, restaurants closing, shops being boarded up and a litany of taxation and "redistribution of wealth" tactics that De Blasio has brought to the table during his tenure as Mayor, he is now also being blamed for a inconspicuous rise in illegal street vendors that the New York Post says is "overtaking" the city.  Pushing items like live crabs, knock-off Louis Vuitton caps and disposable face masks, illegal vendors are making an already miserable 2020 for shop owners even worse. The Post says it counted 27 street vendors on just one side of the street between Sanford and 41st Avenue on Main Street in Flushing. And it doesn't stop there: vendors are scattered everywhere from Manhattan to the Bronx to Brooklyn.  The number of illegal street vendor complaints for 2020 have almost eclipsed 2019's number, despite New York City being in lockdown for 78 days.  DianSong Yu of the Flushing Business Improvement District told the paper that 90% of vendors aren't licensed. Of the 20,000 vendors across the city, only a "few thousand" are licensed, Yu said. “It’s a very tough time for everybody, we get it. But we need to be fair to the local merchant who are paying very high rent and taxes. And they’re hurting.” One vendor who did have a license, and was a military veteran, told the Post: “They’re robbing the city of taxes. They’re taking money from the veterans. They’re taking jobs.” Another former illegal vendor, now in his 70s, said: “I can understand if you can go out and sell. Why not? But the situation is out of hand – outrageously out of hand.” Ira Dananberg, who has worked in Flushing for 19 years, said: “I’ve never seen anything like it. People literally have no choice but to walk on top of each other.” He blames the issue on De Blasio for ordering the NYPD to stop cracking down on vendors in June.  Councilman Peter Koo, who introduced a bill 2 years ago to ban vending on Main Street, called it a "circus" and said the issue "falls squarely on the mayor".  The Department of Consumer Affairs is in charge of handing out licenses and limits non-Veteran licenses citywide to 853. Veterans that are honorably discharged can get one for free, while others pay between $100 and $200. And for items like the live crabs that are being sold during a pandemic that supposedly started in a Chinese wet market? The wife of a licensed vendor bought a dozen crabs several weeks ago from another vendor and "started to feel sick" after eating them. After her husband cracked one of the crabs open, he found "white worms in the bellies". The Health Department says it is investigating.  "Whether the crabs are legal or safe to eat is anybody’s guess. No agency could tell The Post with certainty and none took responsibility for oversight," the article concluded.  Tyler Durden Sun, 12/27/2020 - 18:20
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