Eric Adams vetoes City Council’s bid to decriminalize illegal vending in NYC

Mayor Eric Adams vetoed the City Council’s bid to decriminalize illegal vending — arguing the bill sends the wrong message as New York City tries to clean up its streets.

Adams’ veto sets up a confrontation over a potential override by the Council, which voted to eliminate criminal charges for illicit street vendors.

Opponents said council members pushed the measure — Intro 47-B — in part to help protect migrants operating as unlicensed vendors at a time when President Trump is ramping up deportation of illegal aliens.

Adams, in a statement, said it was a quality of life issue, arguing the Council’s bill comes as the city is attempting to rein in out of control illegal vending along the infamous “Market of Sweethearts” — Roosevelt Avenue in Queens — and other locations.

“Since day one, our administration has been committed not just to making New Yorkers safe, but to making them feel safe, too — and that includes addressing persistent quality-of-life issues like illegal street vending. Our law enforcement officers play a vital role in keeping our streets clear of unlicensed vendors and protecting small business owners who follow the rules from being undercut by those who don’t,” Adams said.

“We cannot be so idealistic that we’re not realistic — preventing the brave men and women of the NYPD from intervening, even in the most egregious cases, is unfair to law-abiding business owners and poses real public health and safety risks.”

But council members said they were heeding the advice of a street advisory task force set up in 2021 that recommended the elimination of misdemeanor criminal charges and instead impose a range of civil fines and penalties on unlicensed food and merchandise vendors.

Last year, the NYPD issued 1,688 criminal summonses for illegal vending.

The Council slammed the mayor’s veto, saying it would “consider its next steps to protect our city from a mayor willing to put his own political needs over people and sound policy that keeps us all safe, with access to opportunity.”

“While leaving in place the enforcement tools of violations, fines, and civil offenses, the bill simply removed the excessive criminal misdemeanor penalties that can block New Yorkers’ access to educational, employment, housing and immigration opportunities,” said Council spokeswoman Julia  Agos.

“The Council negotiated this bill in good faith with the Administration, only to have the mayor disregard the work of the advisory board and his own staff with this veto,” she said. “As the Trump administration continues to attack working families and immigrant communities, Mayor Adams’ veto is yet another example of him supporting Trump’s agenda over New Yorkers.”

The bill passed 40 to 8, with 3 abstentions.

Queens Councilman Robert Holden, one of the naysayers, said concerns about exposing migrants to immigration enforcement came up during the debate by supporters of the bill.

“Should we exempt people from the law because they’re illegal immigrants? That’s ridiculous,” he said.