|
|
|
|
On April 14, 2012, the IJ Clinic on Entrepreneurship hosted “My Streets My Eats: Chicago Mobile Food Symposium and Meet Up” at the University of Chicago Law School. Over 150 entrepreneurs, scholars, government officials, and activists gathered to discuss the the importance of street food in urban cultures and economies, the need to reform vending laws in Chicago, and develop a model for city governments that would allow street vending to flourish. Following the symposium, hundreds more community members joined symposium attendees for a food truck meet up featuring 19 of Chicago's mouth-watering trucks. For event photos, click here. |
Media CoverageChicago Sun-Times |
"Vendors: Understanding How Chicago's Laws Apply to You"
This panel was moderated by Beth Kregor, director of the IJ Clinic on Entrepreneurship, and included IJ Clinic students Cory Miggins, '12, and John Volk, '13.
Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
42:54 minutes
"Street Food: An Important (and Delicious) Part of Urban Life"
This panel was moderated by Beth Kregor, director of the IJ Clinic on Entrepreneurship and included these speakers:
- Sean Basinski, NY Street Vendor Project
- John Gaber, professor, University of Arkansas
- Heather Shouse, author, Food Trucks
Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
51:02 minutes
"Chicago, What’s the Hold Up? The Need to Reform the Windy City’s Vending Laws"
This panel was moderated by Erika Pfleger, Assistant Director of the IJ Clinic on Entrepreneurship, and included these speakers:
- Willie Cochran, Alderman, Ward 20
- Justin Large, Big Star
- Vicki Lugo, Asociacion de Vendedores Ambulantes
- Samm Petrichos, Spice!
Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
63:01 minutes
"What Would Be Better? How Cities Can Create Economic Opportunity by Knocking Down Barriers to Vending"
This panel was moderated by Christina Walsh, Director of Activism and Coalitions, Institute for Justice, and included these speakers:
- Greg Kettles, Office of Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa
- Baylen Linnekin, Keep Food Legal
- Gabriel Wiesen, Beavers Coffee and Donut Truck
Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
62:38 minutes
Street Talk
By Christine Li
Though Chicago is the third largest city in the nation and has long held a place of pride in introducing new cuisines and fresh flavors to the rest of the country, it is today far behind much smaller cities in exploiting the innovative potential offered by mobile food. What can ordinary Chicagoans do about this? We're reaching out to activists, vendors, and scholars working to bring a more vibrant food culture all over the country to understand the most fundamental issues obstructing reform and how we here in the Windy City can fight against them.
May 16, 2012
|
Sean Basinski Sean is the founder and director of the Street Vendor Project in New York City, a nonprofit collective dedicated to "creating a vendor's movement for permanent change." For us in Chicago, it is perhaps hard to fathom New York City as being a tough environment for street vendors. After all, can you imagine stepping into a busy City steet without being hit with the olfactory carnival of carts and trucks--the roasted oysters along Pearl Street shorelines, the mustard drenched knishes dished out from Sabrett carts, and what about that steaming Vietnamese pho handed through truck windows? New York street food, as Urban Oyster’s Brian Hoffman details, has chronicled the shifting migrant constitution of the city from the very beginning. |
Sean |
|
|
Despite this ingrained role in the city’s culinary landscape, street vendors became a target of crackdown during the 1990’s as part of Mayor Rudy Giuliani’s “quality of life” campaign. Though the campaign banded vendors and encouraged them to start formally organizing for their rights, to this day New York City vendors face the same persistent and powerful interests that lobby for their restriction. Sean, who was a featured speaker at the IJ Clinic My Streets My Eats Symposium and Meetup in Chicago, spoke to us about some of these pressures and how SVP has been able to mobilize the community to rally against them. |
MSME What was the initial impetus for starting the Street Vendor Project? How was SVP able to mobilize the street vending community and supporters from the public at large?
SB: I started the Street Vendor Project ten years ago, after being a vendor myself, then graduating from law school and receiving a fellowship. I started by walking around and talking to vendors who had been displaced after September 11th. Almost immediately, vendors from all over the city began to appear at our office, with various problems. There was a real need. Individual issues motivate people to come in – that’s easy. The harder part is to get vendors motivated to work on the bigger systemic problems. That’s what community organizing is all about. It takes time. Our meetings now draw more than 100 vendors each month. We do translation into five languages. We are getting stronger every day.
The harder part is to get vendors motivated to work on the bigger systemic problems. That’s what community organizing is all about.
Our main job is to organize vendors, but we also try to mobilize the wider community. One big part of that is our yearly Vendy Awards, which determine the best food vendor in New York, and now also Philadelphia and LA. The Vendys are fun and promote a positive message that everyone can understand. They allow people to support vendors without getting too involved in the messy politics of it all.
MSME: What is the legislative process in New York City for designating/revising street vending regulations? In your experience, what would you say has been the most effective way for street vendors, community activists, and the broader public to influence the shape of the decision-making?
SB: There are many city regulations governing street vendors. Most of them exist as local laws, which must be passed by City Council and signed by the Mayor. Some are regulations, which can be changed at the administrative level, through various City agencies like the Health Department or Consumer Affairs Department. Either way, it has been extremely difficult for us – at least under the Bloomberg administration – to get any laws or regulations changed. The bureaucracy has incredible inertia. And, elected officials are usually not predisposed to support vendors. They constantly hear complaints about vendors from people with more power – usually brick and mortar businesses who are more skilled at making their voices heard.
The bureaucracy has incredible inertia. And, elected officials are usually not predisposed to support vendors.
|
But changing people’s minds is possible. We go to countless meetings with Community Boards and police precincts and merchant associations, in neighborhoods all throughout New York. Slowly, the word is getting out. We also do a lot of work in the media. Vendors have great stories, if only those stories can be told. Of course, this also takes a lot of work. It’s hard to do without an organization with funding and staff and resources to monitor everything that goes on. MSME: What would you consider the biggest victory in SVP's work so far? What was the key action or strategy in bringing that about? |
|
SB: It’s not easy to mobilize supporters and customers, even though there are millions of people who buy things from vendors daily. Very few people – even the most loyal customers -- have the time to write a letter or attend a protest. But with social media, it is getting easier. In the summer of 2010, Council Member Jessica Lappin announced a bill that would revoke the permits of food truck vendors who received more than three parking tickets. This was a drastic measure, and it happened just as food trucks were becoming very popular in New York. We created a Facebook page,which got tweeted out to the food trucks and then hundreds of thousands of their followers. We got a number of articles in the press. Many influential food blogs also got involved. The bill got no support and was defeated.
The community of people who care about food in New York City is enormous. We’re happy to have their support, whether it comes from their hearts or their stomachs.
Regular people who love street food can help. The easiest way is by just talking to your local vendor about the issues and offering your support.
MSME: With regards to SVP's current Lower the Fines Campaign, how has the initiative gained momentum with the broader public and where do you see the outcome heading?
SB: I don’t know if we have broad public support, but we have gained some momentum. In 2010, we began working on two bills at City Council that would lower the maximum fines for most vendor tickets from $1,000 to $250. We’ve gotten some good media coverage, made videos, and we’ve also done a great deal of street outreach in neighborhoods around the city. And lots of meetings with Council Members, a majority of whom are now sponsoring the bills. Everyone understands that a $1,000 fine is ridiculous for a street vendor. Especially for a minor infraction like vending a few inches too far from the curb.
Regular people who love street food can help. The easiest way is by just talking to your local vendor about the issues and offering your support. Social media is also a great way to get involved. At SVP we have been spending more and more time on our Facebook page and Twitter feed.
As for our bills, a hearing is scheduled for later this month, and hopefully there will be a vote shortly thereafter. This would be a historic achievement. There have been anti-vendor bills in New York for more than 200 years, but vendors have never been powerful enough to get a law passed in their favor.
