History
Every day, an estimated 20,000 of primarily immigrant, POC, women, and military veterans street vendors operate our city’s smallest businesses from the streets and sidewalks. These vendors are an important part of the city’s economy.
Vendors have a big impact on NYC:
$71.2 million
Total local, state and federal tax contribution.
$293 million
Total economic contribution to city.
$192 million
Total wages.
17,960
Total jobs.
Publications on Street Vending
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Fining the Hand that Feeds You by Alfonso Morales and John Davis (2012)
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NYC Street Vendors: studio report of Columbia Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation (2011)
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Streets of Dreams, Institute for Justice Report (2011)
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LA’s Taco Truck War: How Law Cooks Food Culture Contests by Ernesto Hernandez-Lopez (2010)
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All Fingers Are Not Equal: Street Vendors in Lagos Nigeria by SVP director Sean Basinski (2009)
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Zoning for Public Markets and Street Vendors by Alfonso Morales and Gregg Kettles (2009)
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The Mayor’s Pushcart Commission (NYC) (1906)
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Food Cartology: Rethinking Urban Spaces as People Places, Urban Vitality Group, Portland Oregon (2009)
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The Sexual Political Economy of Street Vendors in Washington D.C., Roberta Spalter-Roth (1980s)
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Street Hawkers & Public Space in Mumbai, by Jonathan Shapiro Anjaria (2006)
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The Pushcart Evil: Peddlers, Merchants, and New York City’s Streets, 1890 – 1940, by Daniel Bluestone (1991)
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Jewish Foodways and Entrepreneurial Opportunity in The East European Immigrant Community by Alan M. Kraut
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A Right to Vend: New Policy Framework for Fostering Street Entrepreneurs in New York City, by Ya-Ting Liu (2007)
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A New Commodity in New York City’s Chinatown, by Dawn S. Kissi (2005)
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Regulating Street Vendors in New York City: Case Studies, by Joshua Benson (2006)
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Street Vending Crackdowns in New York City, by Ryan Devlin
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Sidewalk Entrepreneurs, by Jayshree Bajoria
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Draft National Policy on Street Vendors, Government of India, February 2003
Research Links
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Historic Vendor Images NY Public Library’s archive of historic drawings and photographs of street vendors
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Pushcart Recommendations of the Mayor’s Commission shows how NYC vendors were treated in 1906
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Suzanne Wasserman’s "The Good Old Days of Poverty: the Battle Over Pushcart Peddling on the LES"
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SIDEWALK by Mitchell Duneier required reading for anyone interested in street vendors in NYC
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Inclusive Cities has a ton of great reports on the global informal economy