Signing Petitions

I like being a good citizen, but I tire of being assaulted on the street to sign various petitions. Today I had gone out on some errands and it was after 3 and I hadn't eaten lunch yet and I didn't have any lunch stuff at home and I didn't want to take the time to sit in a restaurant.

So I see this food truck, selling all sorts of things and decided I would just grab something quick and bring it home. As I'm looking at the menu, this young woman comes up to me with a petition and I immediately get stiff and she goes on to say that some city councilwoman wants to ban food trucks and how that could extend to food carts.

Now normally I like the rules and laws and playing by the rules, but I think my neighborhood over the years has gotten so gentrified with Victoria's Secret, Banana Republic, etc that what makes a city interesting is hard to find. I like street food. I like street vendors. I know there are all sorts of bad things to say about them, but I think they are part and parcel of the urban scene.

So I sign her petition, even gave my email address, and then she hands me a card for the Vendy Awards which is "a competition to name New York City's best street vendor food."

These awards are a fundraiser for the Street Vendor Project which is a project of the Urban Justice Center which is trying to help out struggling immigrants and entrepreneurs who are working as street vendors. One thing they've accomplished is to sign up a company so that a group of vendors can accept credit cards. If you're interested in reading more, visit www.streetvendor.org.