Mexico's Urban Sidewalk Economy

"The friction is most evident in Mexico City, where an estimated 500,000 itinerant vendors ply their trade, hawking phone cards at traffic lights, bootleg CDs in the subway and snacks from kitchens set up on the sidewalks.The area surrounding the sprawling central square, the Zocalo, the symbolic heart of Mexico, resembles a giant swap meet. Parts of stately Chapultepec Park looked like a county fair until last fall, when management closed a popular section for maintenance. Officials in swanky Polanco, Mexico City's Beverly Hills, are trying to relocate nearly 500 itinerant merchants who sell food and trinkets not far from high-end shops like Louis Vuitton."

Thanks to Brenda Meyer