New York's Street Vendors Fight Back Against Displacement

Despite operating on public right-of-way, food vendors claim that developers are pushing them out of established vending spots.

2 minute read

April 11, 2021, 5:00 AM PDT

By Diana Ionescu @aworkoffiction


New York's street vendors are mounting a campaign against displacement by real estate interests, writes Valeria Ricciulli in Curbed. "It is time that the real estate industry stopped running our city and controlling our public space," says Mohamed Attia, executive director of the Street Vendor Project.

Hot dog vendor Mohamed Awad has watched his business in the Hudson Yards get slowly eaten away by real estate interests. When Hudson Yards opened in 2019, "Awad, his partners, and their employees began to face harassment from the police and Hudson Yards security, even though their carts are on a public sidewalk." To make matters worse, property owner Related has added landscaping elements that the vendors see as a purposeful attempt to "push them out of Hudson Yards altogether." Awad explained that since "city regulations explicitly require vendors to leave a 12-foot-wide clear path on the sidewalk in front of their carts," the landscaping additions "effectively built him out of business."

"After their rally, several street vendors took it upon themselves to push back, literally. The Street Vendor Project had found that Related didn’t have a DOT permit to set out that planter. So several street vendors worked together to shove it just far enough to make room for Awad’s cart, as Hudson Yards employees and several NYPD officers stood by."

Days later, the planter had been moved back. Awad is undeterred. "I’ve been here before all of them," he said. "It doesn’t mean I own [the space], but this is a public street. I’m not going to give up."

Friday, April 23, 2021 in Curbed

Aerial view of snowy single-family homes in suburban Long Island, New York

New York Governor Advances Housing Plan Amid Stiff Suburban Opposition

Governor Kathy Hochul’s ambitious proposal to create more housing has once again run into a brick wall of opposition in New York’s enormous suburbs, especially on Long Island. This year, however, the wall may have some cracks.

March 20, 2023 - Mark H. McNulty

Empty parking garage at night with yellow lines marking spots and fluorescent lighting

Rethinking the Role of Parking in the American City

In cities big and small, the tide is turning against sprawling parking lots, car-centric development, and minimum parking mandates.

March 16, 2023 - The New York Times

A futuristic version of New York City, with plants growing neatly on top of modern skycrapers.

Friday Eye Candy: 20 AI-Generated Cityscapes

AI-generated images are creating new landscapes and cityscapes, capable of inspiring awe or fear.

March 17, 2023 - Chris Steins via Medium

A mountain range at sunset appears in the background of this photo, with cacti in the foreground.

Biden Designates a New National Monument in West Texas

The Castner Range National Monument in West Texas is the second of two new national monuments announced by President Joe Biden this week.

1 hour ago - The White House

View of street in Chinatown, San Francisco with cars parked along curb and red Chinese lanterns hanging above street

Study: Autonomous Cars Won’t Solve the Parking Problem

In hyper-dense cities where incentives to reduce car use and eliminate parking are already high, mass adoption of AVs won’t significantly reduce parking demand.

3 hours ago - Streetsblog USA

A group of wetsuit-clad swimmers gathers to talk in shallow water near the shore of the San Francisco Bay.

Proposed Pool Would Make an Olympic-Sized Play Area in the San Francisco Bay

The San Francisco Bay is usually an undesirable place to swim, except for a hearty few. A development proposal seeking assistance at the state level would add a pool to the Bay’s waters to make the idea of going for a swim more appealing.

March 24 - The Mercury News

New Updates on PD&R Edge

HUD's Office of Policy Development and Research

HUD’s 2023 Innovative Housing Showcase

HUD's Office of Policy Development and Research

Urban Design for Planners 1: Software Tools

This six-course series explores essential urban design concepts using open source software and equips planners with the tools they need to participate fully in the urban design process.

Planning for Universal Design

Learn the tools for implementing Universal Design in planning regulations.