Press Room

New York City Public Advocate Jumaane D. Williams introduced new legislation in the City Council on Wednesday aimed at providing street vendors with city support as New York’s smallest businesses. The bill is part of a broad package introduced on street vendor rights, resources, and reforms, including bills from Council Members Pierina Sanchez, Amanda Farías, Shekar Krishnan, and Carmen De La Rosa.

"Street vendors are New York City's smallest businesses, and they present both a vital service to consumers and a vital economic engine for our city, especially for marginalized communities,” said Public Advocate Williams. “By designating a specific division of Small Business Services to support street vendors through my bill, the city can provide the education and resources that are essential to the success of these entrepreneurs. I'm proud to have a bill as part of this legislative package, many years in the making, and honored to partner with the Council and advocates who have brought us to this point of progress."

The Public Advocate’s bill, Intro 1268, would create a division of Street Vendor Assistance within the Department of Small Business Services, charged with providing training, outreach, and education to all food vendors and general vendors regarding entrepreneurship and compliance with all applicable local laws, rules, and regulation. It would also require the commissioner of small business services to update the department’s programs to facilitate services specifically for street vendor small businesses. This would give street vendors access to many of the same tools afforded to other small businesses.

Street vending in New York has always been a critical component of in the city’s economy. Nearly 20,000 individuals are employed as street vendors to date. The industry has played an important role in the city's growth, supporting immigrants, people of color, and military veterans to successfully operate the city’s smallest businesses, while creating entrepreneurs along the way.

The current ways in the city approaches and addresses street vendors often leaves many individuals harassed, unfairly arrested, and without adequate resources or clear regulations. Additionally, thousands of vendors have been waitlisted for food vendor permits, with some of them waiting for decades. While some legislative progress has been made in recent years, much more work remains to ensure the industry is supported and treated equitably.

This legislative package will reform the city’s current street vending systems, allowing vendors to build wealth within their neighborhoods by further regulating their small businesses, while still allowing them to provide New Yorkers with services they request on a daily basis. Additional bills within the package introduced Wednesday include business licensing and regulatory compliance of all mobile food and merchandise, reducing the criminal liability on food and merchandise vending, and siting rules and regulations for licensed and permitted vendors.

"As a longtime supporter of congestion pricing, I know this vote is a major milestone years in the making, and means we are nearing the time when this critical policy will take effect. In the period between today’s vote and the full implementation of congestion pricing, though, I believe there are still important considerations and accommodations that must be made, concerns which have yet to be adequately addressed.

“As designed, the provisions around taxis will create undue financial burden for drivers already struggling to make a living. I further believe that the discounted rate for low-income New Yorkers – which are only triggered after ten full-rate trips – is insufficient to meet the level of need in an existing affordability crisis. Greater effort must also be made to protect these same communities from an increase in hazardous emissions.

“Unrestrained exemptions to congestion pricing would undermine its purpose and render the policy ineffective – at the same time, limited use of adjustments will make it stronger, more sustainable, and more equitable. I urge the Board to make these considerations ahead of implementation.”

"At a time in our city when many seem in a constant state of mourning, pain, outrage, and concern, grasping for hope, we can be thankful for a moment today that some hostages have been released to return home to their families, and that the violence in Gaza that has taken many thousands of lives, destroyed homes and families, has ceased temporarily. We can be grateful for this progress, but we cannot be satisfied with it.

"Humanity demands the return of all remaining hostages, and a lasting cessation of the violence and suffering we have seen. Humanity demands the destruction and death in Gaza over the past seven weeks does not just resume after a brief moment of respite. And we all have a moral obligation to use whatever voice and influence we have to push for inhumanity to end.

"Violence begets violence, and neither justice nor freedom nor safety nor strength nor peace is built on a body count."

"Yesterday, the mayor celebrated an increase in public school enrollment, driven primarily by the migrant families who have come to our city seeking asylum, as a sign that ‘New York is back.’ Today, he released a budget that slashes public education funding, along with services throughout the city, and cast blame on the arrival of those same families, justifying cuts that will harm all New Yorkers by pointing to the most vulnerable. This repeated strategy by the administration pits the New Yorkers who have less against new New Yorkers who have least, and it is irresponsible messaging and governance.

"Every time the city has faced a challenge in the last two years, the answer from the administration has been to cut. Blaming fiscal woes solely on the asylum crisis, even though, truthfully, has absolutely impacted our budget, it only explains a portion of a shortfall we've anticipated long before the first bus arrived. These cuts aren’t abstract, and do real harm to our systems of government and New Yorkers relying on those services. While there is a clear and urgent need for additional funding and resources from the state and federal government, the mayor should come to the table with a scalpel instead of cuts across the board. He should also reconsider the administration's annual opposition to supporting common sense revenue raising options that ensure the city can continue to uphold its fiscal responsibility and moral responsibility at the same time."

"The only solution to the affordable housing crisis we face is to build and preserve more deeply affordable, accessible, income-targeted housing. The legislation from Speaker Adams which the Council passed today will help to produce crucial housing in all communities across the city, while ensuring that work is done with the communities themselves.

"Taken in conjunction with my office’s Racial Impact Study legislation, which passed in 2021 and requires that most new projects are assessed for their ability to affirmatively further fair housing, this new law will help alleviate the need for growth without displacing or damaging existing communities. To this end, we must also continue to change affordability targets for new projects, so that current residents can actually afford to live in their neighborhoods.

"I thank the Speaker and Council for making this crisis a priority, and meeting it with legislation that will help our city both meet this moment of need and provide a framework for the future."

New York City Public Advocate Jumaane D. Williams today announced the placement of the inaugural Ryan Long Fellowship within the Office of the New York City Public Advocate. The fellowship is named for a former team member in the office who passed away in February of 2021.

The Ryan Long Fellowship is an eight-month paid placement for an undergraduate or graduate student within the office’s Constituent Services team, where Ryan served the city prior to his passing. The Fellowship will offer experience in the kind of selfless public service to which Ryan was dedicated, and is awarded to someone who demonstrates that spirit of service and commitment to doing good for as many people as possible. After an extensive process, this year’s recipient is Luis Villa.

“It was an honor to have Ryan on our team, working every day to serve the people of New York City, and it was a tragedy to lose him so young,” said New York City Public Advocate Jumaane D. Williams. “I’m glad that through this fellowship, we will be able to uplift his legacy, a legacy that also extends to each New Yorker he helped with expertise and enthusiasm. I thank his family for collaborating with us to establish this program and select our first Fellow, and I am excited to have Luis join our office.”

Luis Villa is an undergraduate student at Queens College with extensive leadership and volunteer experience, including with the Boy Scouts of America, through student government associations, and with the Queens College LGBTQIA+ Pride Team. He has been recognized with numerous community service awards in the past.

“It’s great to have the opportunity to be in public service and help people in whatever way I can,” said Luis Villa on being selected. “I’m grateful to the Public Advocate office and to Ryan’s family for selecting me, and I look forward to supporting New Yorkers in need, remembering the legacy of Ryan Long.”

Ryan Long was passionate about politics and public service, and played important roles in city, state, and federal offices and campaigns. As a Constituent Services associate with the Office of the Public Advocate, he helped New Yorkers connect to and receive vital services from their city government. He passed away at the age of 30.

“The family of Ryan Long is honored that Public Advocate Williams and his colleagues have established the Ryan Long Fellowship as a unique opportunity for individuals to strengthen their skills for public service,” said Elizabeth Clyne, Ryan’s mother. “Ryan was dedicated to public service and was proud to be part of the team at Constituent Services where they work every day to improve the lives of New Yorkers. Our family would like to congratulate Luis Villa as the first recipient of the fellowship honoring and continuing Ryan's legacy of service. We wish Luis well as he utilizes this new role to pursue positive impacts on the people of New York.”