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Seen & Heard: A meeting to discuss illegal street vendors on Canal
MEETING ON CANAL STREET VENDORS
The SoHo Broadway Initiative is hosting a virtual meeting with NYC agencies and elected officials to discuss street vending enforcement UPDATE: IT WAS RESCHEDULED to Thursday, October 23, at 4p on Thursday, October 2, at 4p on Zoom. Participants include the office of District Attorney Alvin Bragg, the office of Councilmember Christopher Marte, Manhattan Community Board 2, NYC Department of Sanitation, NYPD 1st Precinct, NYPD 5th Precinct. More info here.
MUSAAFER IS OPEN UPSTAIRS AND DOWN
The super fancy Indian restaurant on Duane — Musaafer — opened in late August, and G. reports that the downstairs bar, called Saaqi, is beautifully done. However, after I sent three emails with no reply and then stopped in, they told me I could not take pictures and their publicist would get back to me (that never happened). So that’s it for me! Peek in and check it out — it’s inspired by the Taj Mahal, with marble walls and floors and including a room modeled after the Sheesh Mahal, a restored 17th-century Mughal monument that reopened to the public in July 2025.
BACK MARKET COMING TO BROADWAY & GRAND
Thanks to J. for the tip: Back Market, a global marketplace dedicated to Verified Refurbished technology founded in Paris in 2014, is opening a storefront at 449 Broadway and Grand on October 1. They company has sold 30 million refurbished devices to date. “Our mission is to create a world that does more with what we already have by prolonging the lifespan of electronic devices through circularity and repair,” they say on their website.
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Wow, that’s a disgusting photo in the tweet.
Sounds like the Canal Street Meeting will have some answers:
Participating Partners Include:
Office of District Attorney Alvin Bragg
Office of Council Member Christopher Marte
Manhattan Community Board 2
NYC Department of Sanitation
NYPD 1st Precinct
NYPD 5th Precinct
I made the mistake of walking down Canal yesterday and it is almost impossible to get out of the mob scene. So sad seeing what has happened to what use to be one of my favorite streets in the 70’s.
Let’s show up in force for this Soho BID call! The open air drug market that Canal Street has become is beyond a nuisance – it is a danger to all that live and work in the neighborhood. Lack of enforcement, de-criminalization and catch and release policies are destroying the neighborhood.
And don’t get me started on the “Statue Cruise” vendors!!
walked by there yesterday, it has expanded dramatically beyond Canal Street, all along Broadway and side streets, can’t even walk on the sidewalks, how this isn’t obvious to act upon is a testament to how bad all of the “participating” partners have been, more like non participating
Not surprising about Musaafer…service isn’t their strong suit
If you care about the neighborhood, please do attend the meeting about the illicit vendors, and voice your opinions there (civilly, of course). This area of lawlessness around Canal Street is spreading to neighbouring streets rapidly. Counterfeit sales, drug sales, grilling food on the street, littering, harassing pedestrians, blocking the sidewalks, public urination (and worse), flagrant disregard for the law.
Recently there were police parked around Canal and Broadway, which temporarily deterred the sellers. Or rather, the sellers just moved to surrounding streets, and waited until the police left. Obviously this kind of passive pseudo-enforcement is a joke. In the past, I’ve seen police officers even joking around with the sellers.
I asked the officers in one of the parked cars why more was not done. I got a variant of the same answer I always get: There is no will “from above” of enforcement; the police have no power in this; there used to be a police unit to enforce against illicit vending but it was canceled a few years ago… and most importantly, “nothing will change unless the political powers that be change”.
I fear the problem will only get worse if our next mayor is Mamdami. Has he expressed any opinion on this issue?
Mamdani wants to decriminalize prostitution. Somehow I doubt he is looking simultaneously to increase enforcement against street vendors and counterfeiters.
Regarding the vendors, I also blame the buyers. Do they not realize they are supporting organized crime? Do they not care they bring this crime into our neighbourhoods? Apparently they either don’t know or just don’t care.
Many of us were in the area when the tragic events of 9-11 unfolded, a day when nearly 3,000 individuals perished. Counterfeiting can be a way of financing terrorism.The terrorists who attacked the Charlie Hebdo offices, murdering 11 people in Paris in 2015, partially financed their weapons by selling counterfeit products. Subject to fewer crackdowns, it provides an immediate source of cash that is untraceable.
https://www.visionofhumanity.org/counterfeiting-an-abc-of-terrorist-financing/
I wish to attend the Canal Street meeting but it is Yom Kippur. I assume several residents and store owners will be in the same situation.
Please make your voice heard for those that can not attend.
Thank you.
I thought that city council decriminalized street vending. If so, what could this meeting possibly accomplish?
They changed the laws, but still:
“The new law does allow officers to continue to dole out criminal tickets for unlicensed vending — a category that has accounted for 85% of the criminal vending summonses issued through July 15 this year. Officers can also continue to hand out civil tickets, which can cost up to up $1,000.”
I don’t understand the change. Is the only difference that officers can no longer arrest vendors?
At any rate, this change can only make matters worse.
Then there are the quotes in the article.
One vendor says, “It’s like this park where we’re standing by: The businesses are like the large trees, and us vendors are just like the grass underneath. You tell me, would the park look good if you only let the trees grow without the grass?”
Bad metaphor. The junk they sell is more like litter than grass (and the vendors also produce a ton of litter every day around Canal Street area). It looks like a trash dump with boxes, food containers, wrappers from the products, strewn everywhere. The park and the streets would definitely look better without the vendors.
Another vendor: ““It’s not fair. Do you think it’s fair? We’re not out here committing crimes.”
Well, actually if you are breaking the law, isn’t that “committing a crime”.
Most of the illegal vendors are illegal migrants. I thought ICE was the modern day gestapo. Why don’t they round up these people? It’s such a low hanging fruit.
U.S. federal resources (ICE, DHS, DHI) are the only way to solve this – local legislators and NYPD do not have the authority. It has become worse each year since the pandemic and local officials have done nothing to address it. NYC clearly needs U.S. federal resources to remedy this (obvious) issue.
They moved it so that it doesn’t conflict with Yom Kippur. Please attend and tell others!
I hope we as a community and city can create a solution to the Canal Street problem. if not, i am afraid Trump will use this as an excuse to send in his thugs.
I wonder why are there no ICE raids happening there.
I wonder about that every day. The vendors never appeared to
be worried. Sure they disperse during the daily show raids
but they bounce right back looking very confident.
The question is who gave the green light to wave them through?
Why is it that in five years no politician ever publicly acknowledged the problem? ( unless to them it’s not a problem?)
Trump’s saving the counterfeit ICE raid for when Mamdani gets elected. Great theater.
Truly one of the hardest places to work in NYC. I am met with crowds of men either peeing, yelling, boxing or grabbing my arms in efforts to sell these items. It is wild that this is happening. It needs to be figured out asap. The other day I had to walk to the subway (which has become an obstacle course of bags laid out) and was bumped into and fell on the steps. I beg this ends!!
I’ve also had incidents of them grabbing my arm or aggressively blocking my way to try to sell me junk. I never make eye contact or look at their trash for sale, so it should be obvious I am not interested. I (externally at least) keep my cool in these situations and walk on without responding, but there’s no excuse for this. It’s become a lawless zone.
Why do I get an ad for BOERUM HILL in my inbox?
A. It’s not in Tribeca.
B. You are not Streeteasy nor Curbed.
Stick to Tribeca please.
You can unsubscribe, but the content is free thanks to advertisers like them!
ICE did more in 10 minutes than NYPD in 10 years. https://nypost.com/2025/10/21/us-news/ice-agents-make-busts-on-canal-street-in-nycs-chinatown-in-effort-to-crackdown-on-illegal-vendors/
Yes – and now ICE and DHS need to sustain the enforcement. If the Canal Street Redesign plan is going to extend the sidewalks (ie. – create more room for these illegal vendors), residents and stakeholders MUST keep this issue front and center with all levels of legislators and law enforcement. Keep the petition effort going, keep reporting to 311, keep submitting complaints on the ICE.gov tip line and keep posting to social media. Today shows that it works.