City Cracks Down on Vendors in Shadow of Kingsbridge Armory

Unlicensed vendors who have long sold their wares in front of the massive and long-vacant Kingsbridge Armory say law enforcement officials have been pushing them away over the last two months, hollowing out what had been a bustling streetscape.

“It’s stupid. What motive would you have?” a vendor who asked to be identified as Maria who’s been selling clothes there for about two years said in Spanish. “Why don’t the police go harass the drug dealers?”

Before the stepped-up enforcement, which was preceded by signs warning it was coming, vendors would show up as early as 3 a.m. to secure spots on the sidewalk. “It was packed, like people had to fight over spots,” Maria said.

The sidewalk was much quieter when THE CITY visited on Thursday, as many vendors have stayed away or curtailed their hours as NYPD and Department of Sanitation officers have stepped up. It’s in some ways an unlikely site for an enforcement push given that the armory has been vacant for three decades. That means vendors in its shadow aren’t competing directly with businesses for sidewalk space, or much else.

The city has increased its crackdown on unlicensed Bronx street vendors since sanitation took over the lead enforcement role last April. While the number of tickets fell 22% citywide during the sanitation agency’s first year in that role, they went up by 29% in The Bronx, THE CITY reported previously. Bronx Community District 8, which includes the armory, saw the sharpest increase of any district, to 27 tickets from two the previous year, when the Department of Consumer and Worker Protection had been the lead enforcement agency for illegal vending.

Vincent Gragnani, spokesperson for the sanitation department, said the agency has issued eight summonses in front of the Kingsbridge Armory so far this calendar year.

“Our enforcement work is rooted in the belief that all New Yorkers, across every neighborhood, in every borough, deserve clean, safe sidewalks,” Gragnani told THE CITY in a written statement. “We take a warnings-first approach” but “also engage in robust enforcement to protect cleanliness and quality of life.”

Gragnani noted that DSNY “did not create street vending laws nor set the fines.”

“We enforce these laws, with a focus on situations where vending has created dirty conditions, safety issues, items being left out overnight, and setups that block curbs, subway entrances, bus stops, sidewalks or store entrances.”

Many unlicensed vendors have applied for street vending licenses, waiting months and even years for any response. The maximum number of licenses available for general merchandise sellers citywide is 853, a cap that advocacy group The Street Vendor Project and Bronx Councilmember Pierina Sanchez, who represents Kingsbridge, are looking to lift through proposed legislation.

‘The Community Is Really Struggling’

The 500,000-square-foot, nine-story tall armory is in the early stages of its latest redevelopment plan, with $200 million in city and state grants awaiting the next developer as the city’s Economic Development Corporation considers various proposals. The city has owned the property since 1996, and has previously failed to implement plans to establish a mall and then an ice rink there.

Developing the building would provide a major economic opportunity in a neighborhood where many residents and business owners alike struggle with rising costs. Business owners last year protested what they said were one local landlord’s efforts to evict them to free space for the armory’s coming development, the Bronx Times reported .

“The community is really struggling. What our folks really need is support with the small businesses, right? We need leases. We need long-term leases. And then we need vendors to get access to permits and licenses so that they could be able to operate their business without being harassed by the sanitation police, but also so they can abide by the rules,” Juan Nuñez, lead armory organizer for the Northwest Bronx Community Clergy and Coalition, one of the groups that has pushed to utilize the armory’s majestic space.

“The last thing we wanted to see was for police to come and start confiscating and giving them fines,” he added. “I don’t how any of the raids are actually helping anyone at all.”

Local small business operators said that they had mixed opinions on street vendors selling their goods in front of the armory.

“That’s a headache ‘cause after the people leave, they’re leaving trash behind. They’ll leave it in front of our stores,” said 53-year-old Miguel Ramos, who has managed King’s Gift Shop directly across Kingsbridge Road from the armory for 27 years. Still, he said, he had no issue with vendors earning a buck as long as they keep it tidy. “I wouldn’t have no problem because people gotta make their money, pay their bills.”

A few storefronts down at S&R Food Mart, Mamadou Bah, 33, who has been working there since 2007, said he misses the street-sellers vendors who brought more customer traffic to his business.

“The vendors used to bring more business for other businesses,” Bah told THE CITY. “Just give them a license. Don’t make it harder for them.”

Haidee Chu contributed reporting.

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