I testified at the hearing for Street Vendor reform in New York City

Plus, a list of 5 of my favorite vendors to eat at

It was a week before Christmas in 2023, and I’d been filming a woman make tamales since 2 AM. As I struggled with my Spanish and filmed every step of the process, the Deputy Director of the Street Vendor Project, Carina Kaufman-Gutierrez, helped guide the interview. The emotions were strong, as Lucía Maldonado told me about how she used to make tamales with her mom back in Mexico, and how she likely could never be able to return to continue that tradition.

“You know what the next step is, right?'“ Carina asked me. “You should come testify at the New York City Council.”

A year and a half later, the opportunity arose. The Street Vendor Project has worked hard to put 2 big bills on the table—Intros 431 and 408—which would 1) eliminate the arbitrary cap on street vending licenses and 2) create a division within the Department of Small Business Services to assist street vendors. The vending license cap was set in the 1980s, and there is currently a waitlist of over 10,000 applicants. Meanwhile, there is no specific internal agency to support and educate street vendors, but instead the responsibility has been shared between multiple agencies.

In the end, after waiting 5 hours at City Hall, I had to run and get work done. But I was able to testify on Zoom. I was literally the final person to testify.

You can watch and read my testimony here. Here are some quick thoughts on how this went, as this was my first ever visit to City Hall:

• There were haters, including many of New York City’s BIDs (Business Improvement Districts). One of them, Barbara Blair from the Garment District, said that repeat offenders of vending rules should have their goods “confiscated and destroyed” and implied that vendors with violations use summonses “as wallpaper in (their) living room”. A representative from DSNY said that from July 2024 to April 2025, there were 8,390 inspections and 3,374 confiscations. 46% of those were composted, donated, or discarded. That’s over 1,000 people who lost their livelihood.

• But one of the haters loves my content? He had been sitting next to me for over an hour and a half before he rose up to give his testimony in opposition to the bills. After he finished his testimony, he walked over to me and said, “I know this is the absolute worst time to ask this, but would you ever consider curating a vendor night market?” After I intimated that I would prefer to go nuclear on his BID in this public hearing, he responded “Please do. This really isn’t me.” Hahaha

• The Street Vendor Project do not fuck around. I’ve worked on many projects with them, but this was the first time I saw them “at work”. I encourage you to watch the Managing Director of SVP, Mohamed Attia, go in on the absurdity of the vending cap during a Q&A.

• Some of the complaints were valid. One member of a BID admitted how much he loved food from street vendors, but highlighted a specific instance where a vendor’s grill smoke was impacting a resident’s asthma (they live in the building the vendor sets up in front of). This reinforces the need for a specific agency to work on these issues.

• The amount of support was incredible. The vendor testimonies, in English, Arabic, Mandarin, and Spanish, were amazing to watch. But the amount of respect that almost everyone showed for the history and culture of street vending in New York was nice to see. It felt like many people were in the room to help the government solve the issues, not to do away with or inhibit vendors.

It was a great experience, and I’m glad I could play a small part in moving these bills forward.

If you love eating at street vendors as much as I do, here’s a list of 5 that I love, including some who I outright can’t publicly highlight:

#1 - Chalupas Poblanas el Tlecuile (Instagram)

Cleotilde Juarez makes one of the best dishes in New York City (Pete Wells agrees). The tortillas are practically deep-fried in lard at the center of a concave comal. Red and green salsas get caramelized in the fat, before strips of beef and onions are added.

Cleo is difficult to track down these days, due to increased enforcement by ICE and the Adams administrations. Watch her Instagram page to see where she pops up.

#2 - The only place to find tacos de canastas in New York