Indicted Mayor’s Latest Street Vendor Sweep Draws Criticism

The NYPD is seizing street vendors’ property as part of Mayor Adams’ newly launched “Operation Restore Roosevelt,” launched on Wednesday in what the city claims is an effort to address prostitution, sex trafficking, and public safety in the Elmhurst, North Corona, and Jackson Heights neighborhoods of Queens.

The move has been widely criticized among immigrant advocacy groups, including the Street Vendor Project and Make the Road.

“Residents of Queens want what we all want: affordable housing, a well-paying job, and a safe community for their children,” the groups said in a joint statement. “People are just trying to put food on the table and keep a roof over their heads. It is absurd and dangerous for elected officials to scapegoat an entire neighborhood to cover up their own failures of leadership and agency mismanagement.”

In a press conference Tuesday night, Adams announced the 90-day operation, which brings more than a dozen city agencies together with state partners “to restore safety and order to the area while delivering resources for those impacted by the issues plaguing Roosevelt Avenue,” said Adams.

The office launches the crackdown on “quality of life crimes” amidst a swirl of controversy and criminality rattling City Hall, stemming from Adams’ indictment on federal charges of bribery, fraud, and allegedly soliciting political contributions from a foreign national. His administration has been rife with resignations and terminations over the past few weeks.

“We are here to say no more and be sure that people are able to enjoy their community,” said Adams at the press conference. ⁣“We will end sex trafficking in this area. We are not here for one day and go away. We’re here for the problem to go away.” ⁣

According to NYPD crime data, crime in the northern Queens 110th Precinct is up seven percent, the Queens Daily Eagle reports. It’s also up 18 percent in the neighboring 115th Precinct, according to the NYPD. Burglary in particular is up 28 percent in 110th Precinct, and 47 percent in the 115th, while being down seven percent citywide. Some sex crimes are up 11 percent in the 110th Precinct.

“The NYPD will be working to reduce retail theft and the sale of stolen goods, additionally, removing illegal, unlicensed vendors and illegal vehicles in the surrounding area, which is important to all of you,” Interim NYPD commissioner Tom Donlon said.

The Department of Sanitation has for months been removing the property of immigrants running street carts. On August 23, street vendor Blanca Alvarado was cooking and selling Ecuadorian tripa mishqui on Junction Boulevard in Corona, Queens, when she was surrounded by police officers asking for her license and I.D. She had both, but she did not have a mobile food permit, which is notoriously hard to get — and there are thousands of people on the waiting list to receive one.

Her cart was a $6,000 pandemic-era purchase partially paid for by her children, and a lifeline the chronically ill widow used to support herself. Rather than impound her cart, it was loaded onto a garbage truck and hauled away. (In New York, enforcement of street vending regulations falls under the jurisdiction of the Sanitation Department.)

After police issued her three citations on Aug. 23, including one for vending without a permit, Alvarado said police barred her from retrieving her cart.

“The truth is, I’m desperate,” Alvarado told Gothamist, adding that she hasn’t found other work since her cart was confiscated. “I can’t pay the rent.”

According to the Street Vendor Project, Alvarado was among at least five vendors along Junction Boulevard in Corona whose carts have been confiscated and trashed by the NYPD this summer.

Following the late summer confiscations, comptroller Brad Lander sent the mayor a letter on September 24 citing at least two dozen calls from unpermitted street vendors who had their property taken. Lander told the Mayor that the callers — all of whom were Spanish speakers — were confused about what happened to their property. Many were seeking advice on how to retrieve their property that they believe was confiscated, since they were told to contact his office to get their property back.

Lander wrote in a statement on social media platform, X that the calls they have received indicate the city agencies are either “damaging street vendors’ property and putting the City at risk for increased claims and spending on settlements” and or “providing vendors with inaccurate and misleading information about how to retrieve their property,” he wrote. Lander is still waiting for a response from the mayor’s office. “We have been waiting almost a year for answers to basic questions about the Adams Administration’s efforts to issue licenses in accordance with the law,” he continued. ”So far, we’ve only seen chaotic heavy-handed enforcement.”

The illegal vendors — folks selling sliced mangos, fresh tamales, and sugared churros — are being swept up into “quality of life crimes” including prostitution, but advocates and elected officials say the mayor’s office seems blind to the impact on the immigrant population.

“Mayor Adams and Governor Hochul talk about New York City as a city of immigrants, yet they put them at risk of deportation every time that they increase policing on the streets, which is especially concerning now given the national political environment,” said Make the Road and the Street Vendor Project in a joint statement. “Instead of making sure that this is a reality for everyone, Mayor Adams and Governor Hochul have instead decided to launch a quasi-military operation designed to criminalize. The police are not a solution; they do not provide job training or vendor licensing or after-school programs. In fact, the local 115 Precinct has failed to follow the rule of law themselves, illegally destroying vendor cars as recently as August of this year.”

Local elected officials like Queens Borough President Donavan Richards and Senator Jessica Ramos are worried that the increased policing in the area will lead to adverse effects.

“You’re going to go and take the churros lady’s cart again, how does that help with ensuring people have long-term, sustainable opportunities?” Richards said to the Queens Daily Eagle.

“With all of the police presence and so little actual investigation of the traffickers, you’re basically sending the traffickers into hiding,” Ramos said to the Queens Daily Eagle.

“The people who are left walking the street are honest people who most likely are parents and are trying to do the right thing,” Ramos said. “They came here to work, and they should be allowed to work, and it’ll be very unfortunate if and when innocent people end up being caught up in the aftermath of this.”