L.L. 1997/027

Enactment date: 5/5/1997

Int. No. 939

By Council Members Dear and Fisher (Read and referred to the Committee on Transportation) (Preconsidered April 8, 1997, Ordered, Printed and Laid Over)

A Local Law to amend the administrative code of the city of New York, in relation to the food vending business

Be it enacted by the Council as follows:

Section I. Legislative findings and intent. The council finds that local law 15 for the year 1995 restricted the number of food vendor permits to be issued to those engaged in the food vending business to one full-term or temporary food vendor permit per individual, corporation, partnership or other business entity in order to stop the amassing of large numbers of permits by any one individual, corporation, partnership or other business entity, and the illegal leasing of such permits by some of these multiple permit holders for exorbitant sums of money. The council further finds that an unintended effect of such local law was the difficulty this one permit limitation created for certain small business owners who held multiple temporary permits and who are exclusive distributors or manufacturers of food such as ice cream sold on a seasonal basis on the streets of the City. These exclusive distributors or manufacturers must rely on their ability to maintain a certain number of pushcarts or vehicles that can legally purvey their food products on the City's streets during a limited season, and such pushcarts or vehicles each need a valid temporary food vendor permit from the City's Department of Health. Without more than one temporary permit, these exclusive distributors or manufacturers cannot maintain the requisite number of pushcarts or vehicles they need during their limited vending season to stay in business and to keep their product available to the City's residents, work force and visiting tourists. The council further finds that through the use of unissued temporary food vendor permits and as currently issued temporary food vendor permits are retired, those exclusive distributors or manufacturers who held multiple temporary food vendor permits before local law 15 for the year 1995 divested them of their additional permits should be allowed to again hold their multiple temporary food vendor permits up to a maximum of a total of sixty temporary food vendor permits. Moreover, multiple temporary food vendor permits should only be issued to persons who were in business as exclusive distributors or manufacturers at the time local law 15 for the year 1995 was enacted and such multiple permits should not be transferable.

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[Consolidated provisions are not included in this Appendix A]

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§ 13. This local law shall take effect immediately, provided, however, that section nine of this local law shall not take effect until one hundred twenty days after the date of enactment of this local law, and, provided, further, that the commissioner of the department of health may promulgate any necessary rules and take any other actions necessary for the timely implementation of section nine of this local law prior to such effective date. Any person who has been issued more than one temporary permit pursuant to subitem (I) of item (B) of clause (ii) of subparagraph (a) of paragraph three of subdivision f of section 17-307 of the administrative code of the city of New York, as added by section five of this local law, who leases a vehicle or pushcart owned by such person with such person's temporary permit attached thereto to a person licensed as a food vendor pursuant to subchapter two of chapter three of title seventeen of such code shall be subject to the provisions of section nine of this local law on or after the effective date of such section.