A new report suggests New York City's shift away from police enforcement of street-food vending, which was supposed to protect vendors from the constant regulatory harassment they face in the city, has failed to achieve its key goals. In fact, according to new data released this week by Gothamist and WNYC, the city may be ticketing vendors more now than before the change.
When the move away from police enforcement of vending regulations was first proposed under then-Mayor Bill de Blasio in 2020, I called it an overdue and welcome move that should deescalate dangerous and needless confrontations between police and food vendors.
