Get the latest BPR news delivered free to your inbox daily. SIGN UP HERE
CHECK OUT WeThePeople.store for best SWAG!
Mayhem seems to be a common theme heard from New Yorkers living in a city run by Democratic Mayor Bill de Blasio.
Business owners struggling to survive amid pandemic restrictions are forced to fight to make a living in New York City, but illegal street peddlers overtaking large parts of the city appear to be thriving.
That’s according to the New York Post, which said wares being hawked range from live crabs to bras with rhinestones, with the illegal vendors “pulling customers from pandemic-ravaged mom-and-pop shops.”
“Old shoes. Frayed electrical cords. Knock-off Louis Vuitton clutches. Disposable face masks. Mets caps,” the paper reported, as additional products being sold.
Mayhem in the streets: Illegal vendors are overtaking NYC https://t.co/JYkBjtamEH pic.twitter.com/6rQ6DTjbtm
— New York Post Metro (@nypmetro) December 26, 2020
As for where, illegal vendors are said to be setting up shop on folding tables and mats rolled out on the ground from Brooklyn to the Bronx, Staten Island and Queens.
“In the Bronx, 149th Street and Fordham Road are hotspots,” the Post noted. “So is Fifth Avenue in Brooklyn’s Sunset Park and Flushing’s Main Street, especially the few blocks from the Post Office at Sanford Avenue to the 7 Train station at Roosevelt Avenue.”
The article put the number of vendors throughout the city at roughly 20,000, and DianSong Yu of the Flushing Business Improvement District estimated that 90% of them aren’t licensed.
“It’s a very tough time for everybody, we get it,” Yu told the Post. “But we need to be fair to the local merchants who are paying very high rent and taxes. And they’re hurting.”
The 70-year-old husband of a woman who recently bought crabs filled with worms on the street confessed to the paper that he was once an illegal vendor, stressing that it’s now out of control.
“I can understand if you can go out and sell. Why not? But the situation is out of hand – outrageously out of hand,” he said.
Ira Dananberg, owner of a hearing-aid business, Acousticon of Flushing, worries that his customers may not be able to access his business because of the crush of vendors below his shop.
“I’ve never seen anything like it,” Dananberg said. “People literally have no choice but to walk on top of each other.”
In October, Mayor de Blasio announced The Open Storefronts initiative, which allows businesses that apply to use sidewalks if they maintain 8 ft. of space for pedestrians to pass.
“Here’s an opportunity that’ll reach over 40,000 small businesses in the city and will allow them to sell their wares outdoors right in front of their businesses,” he said.
As for the New York City Council, they tweeted a thank you to essential workers on Christmas Eve — and included street vendors.
Much like Democrats conflate legal and illegal immigration, the thank you made no effort to specify legal vendors.
To the hospital staff
grocery and restaurant workers
street vendors
food pantries
delivery workers
building staff
pharmacy workers
first responders
social workers
teachers and school staff
sanitation workers
transit workers
Census workers
and all who keep NYC moving:Thank you. pic.twitter.com/K9cASGI2IG
— NYC Council (@NYCCouncil) December 24, 2020
And just as they do with illegal immigrants, the liberal media is advocating on behalf of illegal vendors, as seen below from Bloomberg.
NYC street vendors fight for survival and legal status https://t.co/R42f0Pfkqm
— Bloomberg CityLab (@CityLab) December 23, 2020
Here’s a quick sampling of responses to the story from Twitter:
#MainStreet #Flushing Has been occupied by illegal street vendors where people are selling everything from counterfeit handbags, bed sheets, pots and pots, sanitizers, masks, fruit & vegetables, & even crabs. @NYCSHERIFF @NYCMayor @CMPeterKoo @nypost @NYPD109Pct @COVID19Tracking pic.twitter.com/WS1QMuGIHI
— Naiwen Zhang (@Naiwen_Z) October 10, 2020
#Mainstreet Queens #nycchinatown illegal street vendors Holiday seafood market on Christmas Eve. pic.twitter.com/9CuctTl7JG
— Naiwen Zhang (@Naiwen_Z) December 25, 2020
I dont think these vendors belong to @CapitalOne. Clearly they are illegal street vendors selling unregulated stuffs. I doubt this is what deBlasio meant when he said if you sell indoor you can set up on sidewalk for the holiday season. FYI, they haven been there since summer. pic.twitter.com/eoeEIQxBS7
— Naiwen Zhang (@Naiwen_Z) December 25, 2020
Will you ppl in N Y wake up?
Look at your City.
Keep votin Dmocrat and you will have NOTHING LEFT!
INSANITY!
LOOKS LIKE A MARKET IN BEIRUT!https://t.co/WIUZBxHVKy— A. C. (@Anthonycorrad19) December 27, 2020
A Covid-ridden New York closing out 2020 with illegal wet markets cropping up on sidewalks has a pleasing but awful symmetry to it
https://t.co/ygc9Elfq4E— skepticalifornia (@skepticaliblog) December 27, 2020
The city council and the mayor of the city of New York has prohibited the New York City Police Department from enforcing any and all vendors rules and regulations. And this is the result. Take a look at Broadway and Canal and you’ll see.
— I’m Just Saiyan!! (@JonNapolitano) December 27, 2020
Selling dead animals out of trash cans is exactly half pandemics start lol
— Marcus (@Big_Time_Atl) December 26, 2020
That what usually happens when implementing communism
— Biseboy44 (@biseboy44) December 27, 2020
DONATE TO BIZPAC REVIEW
Please help us! If you are fed up with letting radical big tech execs, phony fact-checkers, tyrannical liberals and a lying mainstream media have unprecedented power over your news please consider making a donation to BPR to help us fight them. Now is the time. Truth has never been more critical!
Tom@bizpacreview.com
The longest-tenured writer at BizPac Review, Tom grew up in Maryland before moving to Central Florida as a young teen. It is in the Sunshine State that he honed both his passion for politics and his writing skills.
- Did Sunny Hostin just admit on air to breaking the law by voting for her son? - November 8, 2022
- Stacey Abrams justifies trailing in the polls by suggesting black men are too stupid to back her - November 7, 2022
- Kevin McCarthy has message for Pelosi telling Dems to ‘change the subject’ away from inflation - October 24, 2022
Comment
We have no tolerance for comments containing violence, racism, profanity, vulgarity, doxing, or discourteous behavior. If a comment is spam, instead of replying to it please click the ∨ icon below and to the right of that comment. Thank you for partnering with us to maintain fruitful conversation.
