Today I spent the first 4 hours of my day at City Hall attending the public hearing regarding this new proposed legislation that, if passed, would add an additional 1,500 fruit and vegetable carts to the neighborhoods most in need (based on community health profiles and other relevant data) of access to fresh produce. I arrived to be surprised that each council member on the committee was opposed to the legislation. I had assumed that this was a slam-dunk. Who could oppose increasing the availability of fresh produce? To my dismay, I quickly realized that the real agenda in the room had more to do with protecting the rights of business owners (supermarkets and green grocers) than impacting the health of the public.
There were questions about competition among store owners and the cart vendors. That a street vendor could possibly put a supermarket out of business is ridiculous...not to mention the fact that these vendors would want to make money. They would go where consumers would buy their products. Isn't competition good for business? That is the notion I had, but it felt like city council members were forcing the issue of unfair competition as well as being anti-vendors, in general.
New York has it's vendor issues and they will always be present. New Yorkers also need more opportunity to buy on-the-go food that isn't processed junk. I know that I have been saved many times form the lows of plummeting blood sugar by the "fruit man" on the corner. Wouldn't it be nice to have more of them?
I left the hearing well before it ended feeling a need to spread the word. How many of us are aware of this proposal? It needs support! I urge you to get familiar with the proposal and call on your local council members to support this step in the right direction toward increasing access to fresh produce throughout NYC. Read more here.
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