Live crabs. Stone bras. Old shoes. Broken electrical cables. Louis Vuitton clutches. Disposable face masks. Mets capable.
Illegal street vendors walking around with such items took over the outer neighborhoods, clogging the sidewalks with their second-hand goods and attracting customers from the pandemic-ravaged mothers and pop shops.
And everyone points to the mayor of Blasio.
From Brooklyn to the Bronx, Staten Island and Queens, folding tables and mats were deployed on ground force pedestrians to go in a single file or step aside so that they would not be driven away.
In the Bronx, 149of The street and Fordham Road are hot spots. So is Fifth Avenue in Brooklyn’s Sunset Park and Flushing’s Main Street, especially the few blocks from the Post Office on Sanford Avenue to Roosevelt Avenue Station 7.
On the Main, between Sanford and 41St. Avenue, The Post had 27 street vendors – on one side of the street. Two yellow licenses issued, showing that they are military veterans. Six shook their heads as if they didn’t understand English. The others turned or looked down when asked to show their licenses.
DianSong Yu of Flushing Business Improvement District estimates that 90% of sellers are not authorized. Across the city, the number of all types of vendors stands at about 20,000, according to the Street Vendor Project, an advocacy group. But legitimate general merchandise licensees, not including mobile food suppliers, total several thousand.
“It’s a very difficult time for everyone, we understand,” Yu told The Post. “But we have to be fair to the local merchant who pays rent and very high taxes. And I’m hurting. “
Bobby has a yellow license for his place on the Main – and he’s mad at the infiltrators. “I rob the city of taxes. They take money from veterans. They’re taking jobs, “said Bobby, who did not give his last name but told The Post that he fought in Vietnam.
Licenses are granted by the Department of Consumers. The city caps non-veteran general supplier licenses at 853 and charges a fee of $ 100 or $ 200, depending on the time of year the applicant submits. Any honorably released veteran can get a free permit.
Sanford and Main is where you can find live blue crabs. Hawkers stack their three-height wooden bushings, selling shellfish for a dollar each.
However, it assumes that crabs are legal or safe to eat. No agency could say for sure, and none of them took responsibility for the surveillance.
New York State allows crabing in the waters around Queens, but has restrictions on the size and number of catches. Issue permits for large transports.
But the regulatory agency, the State Department for Environmental Conservation, does not require a retail permit to sell crabs. The city’s health department licenses mobile food vendors, which cannot sell raw seafood but do not monitor street traffickers.
The wife of an authorized seller bought a few decades ago, for the objections of her husband, who did not work during the pandemic due to chronic lung disease.
“She realized what could go wrong … well,” said the husband, who spoke to The Post on condition of anonymity.
That night, he nibbled on the crab’s legs. Not long after, she began to feel unwell and her husband decided to dissect the remains for clues. He found white worms in his belly. The health department is investigating, spokesman Patrick Gallahue told The Post.
“I was an illegal seller,” said her husband, who is now in his 70s. “I can understand if you can go out and sell. Why not? But the situation is out of work – outrageous. “
At 39 years oldof and Main, Ira Dananberg looks down at the crushing humanity in her second-floor hearing aid business, Acousticon of Flushing.
“I’ve never seen anything like it,” said Dananberg, who has been at his location for 19 years. “People literally have no choice but to walk on top of each other.”
He worries because most of his customers are older and use a cane or walker. And they are intimidated by the crowd.
From January to December 21, illegal complaints from street vendors in the five neighborhoods totaled 2,907 – despite the fact that the city was blocked for 78 days. Figure from 2019: 3,101.
In the first nine months of 2020, the NYPD wrote 28 tickets to unlicensed suppliers. Last year ‘s number was 173.
Dananberg, Bobby and many others blame Blasio, who ordered the NYPD to stop cracking down on its illegal traffickers in early June – part of a package of policy changes it announced more than a week ago. of violent protests about the Black Lives Matter.
“It’s a circus,” said councilor Peter Koo, who introduced a bill passed two years ago that bans all sales – even food carts – on Main Street. “This is up to the mayor.”
Dananberg filed 311 complaints online, which were forwarded to NYPD’s 109of Section. The responding police told Dananberg that their hands were tied because of Hizzoner’s moratorium.
NYPD Spokesman Det. Sophia Mason said The Post police are still handling supplier complaints.
But the implementation will shift from NYPD to Consumer Affairs on Jan. 15, Blasio spokeswoman Laura Feyer told The Post.
“We remain dedicated to a diverse business ecosystem, where small businesses of all kinds coexist and contribute to a vibrant street life,” she said.