2006 New York Code - Veterans Of The Armed Forces Who Vend In Cities Having A Population Of One Million Or More

 
    §  35-a.  Veterans  of  the  armed  forces who vend in cities having a
  population of one million or more.  Subject to the  provisions  of  this
  section  but notwithstanding any inconsistent provisions of any general,
  special or local law:
    1. (a) In cities having a population  of  one  million  or  more,  the
  official designated by a local law or ordinance to issue a local license
  to  hawk,  peddle,  vend and sell goods, wares or merchandise or solicit
  trade upon the  streets  and  highways  within  such  city  shall  issue
  specialized  vending  licenses  to  honorably  discharged members of the
  armed forces of the United States  who  are  physically  disabled  as  a
  result  of  injuries  received while in the service of said armed forces
  and who are eligible  to  hold  licenses  granted  pursuant  to  section
  thirty-two  of  this  article.  Such  specialized vending licenses shall
  authorize holders  thereof  to  hawk  or  peddle  within  such  city  in
  accordance  with  the  provisions contained in this section. Specialized
  vending licenses issued under this  section  shall  permit  the  holders
  thereof to vend on any block face, and no licensee authorized under this
  section  shall be restricted in any way from vending in any area, except
  as provided in this section.
    (b) The official in such  city  responsible  for  issuing  specialized
  vending  licenses  shall  set  forth  by  rule  procedures  for  issuing
  specialized vending licenses pursuant to this section; such rules  shall
  establish  a  priority  system,  based  upon the date of application for
  specialized vending licenses issued pursuant to this section,  provided,
  however,  that any disabled veteran vendor holding a specialized vending
  license issued in such city prior to March first,  two  thousand  three,
  shall  be  accorded  a  priority based upon the date of issuance of such
  specialized vending license.
    2. In areas where general vending is authorized, outside of  the  area
  specified  in subdivision seven of this section, all specialized vending
  license holders, including those vendors authorized to vend in the  area
  specified  in  subdivision  seven  of  this section, shall be subject to
  those restrictions on the placement of vehicles,  pushcarts  and  stands
  contained  in  any local law, ordinance, by-law, rule or regulation of a
  city having a population of one million or more, to the extent that such
  restrictions are not  inconsistent  with  the  provisions  contained  in
  subdivisions four, five, six and eight of this section.
    3.  Specialized vending licenses issued pursuant to this section shall
  authorize the holders thereof to vend on block faces, outside  the  area
  specified  in  subdivision seven of this section, on the days and at the
  times when other vending businesses have been prohibited on  such  block
  faces  pursuant to any local law, ordinance, by-law, rule or regulation.
  Not more than two such specialized vending licensees shall be authorized
  pursuant to this subdivision per restricted block face, provided that no
  restriction shall apply to such licensees when  vending  on  such  block
  faces  except as provided in paragraphs (e), (g), (h), (i), (j), (k) and
  (l) of subdivision seven  of  this  section;  and  provided  further  no
  specialized  vending  licensee  shall  vend  on any sidewalk unless such
  sidewalk has at least a  ten-foot  wide  clear  pedestrian  path  to  be
  measured  from  the boundary of any private property to any obstructions
  in or on the sidewalk, or if there are no  obstructions,  to  the  curb.
  Where  three or more specialized vending license holders attempt to vend
  simultaneously on the same  block  face,  the  two  specialized  vending
  license  holders  with  the  higher priority, as established pursuant to
  paragraph (b) of  subdivision  one  of  this  section,  shall  have  the
  exclusive  right  to  vend on such block face, and any other specialized
  vending license holder vending on such block face shall be deemed to  be
  vending without first having obtained a license.
    4. Where exigent circumstances exist, a police officer of the city may
  order  a  specialized  vending license holder to temporarily move from a
  location; for purposes  of  this  subdivision,  "exigent  circumstances"
  shall  mean  an  immediate threat to public safety caused by unusual and
  severe  pedestrian  congestion  due  to  an  impediment  other  than the
  specialized vending license holder, or by  an  accident,  fire,  parade,
  demonstration  or  other  emergency  situation.  Nothing herein shall be
  construed to limit  such  city's  authority  to  place  restrictions  on
  vending in order to protect national security.
    5.  Specialized  vending  licenses  to  vend shall be accompanied by a
  photographic color coded identification which shall include the priority
  number established pursuant to paragraph (b) of subdivision one of  this
  section,  and  shall  be  displayed  by such specialized vending license
  holder.
    6. Specialized vending licenses to vend shall not be  loaned,  leased,
  subcontracted or otherwise transferred except:
    (a)  Upon  the death of the disabled veteran who held the license, the
  license shall be transferred by operation of law to the surviving spouse
  or, if there is no surviving spouse or the surviving spouse  elects  not
  to use the license, to the guardian of a minor child or children who may
  use  the  license  for  the  support of the minor child or children. The
  license shall revert to the licensing agency for reassignment  upon  the
  death  of  the surviving spouse, if the surviving spouse remarries, when
  the youngest minor child  reaches  age  eighteen,  or  when  either  the
  surviving  spouse  or guardian of the minor child or children elects not
  to use the license to vend in the city of New York or abandons  the  use
  of  the  license.  Temporary  periods when the spouse or guardian do not
  vend shall not cause the license to revert to the  licensing  agency  in
  the  absence  of  other  evidence of an intent to abandon the use of the
  license; a period of six months or more  in  which  the  holder  of  the
  license  does  not  vend  shall create a rebuttable presumption that the
  spouse or guardian has abandoned the use of the license; and
    (b)  If  the  veteran  who  holds  the  license  becomes  totally  and
  permanently  disabled,  the holder of the license may transfer it to the
  holder's spouse or, if the veteran has no spouse, to an adult  child  if
  the  child  assumes  the  duty to support the veteran. The license shall
  revert to the licensing agency  when:  (1)  the  veteran  who  held  the
  license  immediately  before  the  transfer dies; (2) the spouse dies or
  divorces the  veteran  who  held  the  license  immediately  before  the
  transfer;  or  (3)  the child to whom the license is transferred dies or
  renounces the obligation to support the veteran  who  held  the  license
  immediately before the transfer.
    7.  In  the  borough  of Manhattan in the city of New York in the area
  bounded on the east by Second avenue, on the south by Thirtieth  street,
  on  the  west  by  Ninth  avenue and Columbus avenue and on the north by
  Sixty-fifth street, the following additional provisions shall  apply  to
  the issuance of specialized vending licenses to disabled veteran vendors
  pursuant to this section:
    (a)  such specialized vending license holders shall be prohibited from
  vending on Second avenue, Third avenue, Lexington avenue,  Park  avenue,
  Vanderbilt  avenue,  Madison avenue, Fifth avenue, Sixth avenue, Seventh
  avenue,  Broadway,  Eighth  avenue,  Amsterdam  avenue,  Ninth   avenue,
  Columbus  avenue,  Thirty-fourth  street  between  Lexington  avenue and
  Seventh avenue, Forty-second street between Lexington avenue and  Eighth
  avenue,  Forty-ninth street between Lexington avenue and Seventh avenue,
  Fiftieth  street  between  Lexington  Avenue  and  Seventh  avenue   and
  Fifty-seventh street between Lexington Avenue and Seventh avenue;
    (b)  there  shall  be  a  limit  of one authorized specialized vending
  license holder per block face;
    (c)  there  shall  be  a limit of one hundred five specialized vending
  license holders authorized to vend within the area at any one time to be
  allocated as follows: sixty upon the effective date of  the  chapter  of
  the  laws  of  two  thousand  four  which  amended  this  paragraph,  an
  additional fifteen commencing three months from the  effective  date  of
  the  chapter  of  the  laws  of  two  thousand  four  which amended this
  paragraph, and an additional ten in each of the succeeding  three  years
  commencing on January thirty-first, two thousand five;
    (d) the rule set forth pursuant to paragraph (b) of subdivision one of
  this   section   shall  establish,  pursuant  to  the  priority  system,
  procedures  for  issuing  specialized  vending  licenses   pursuant   to
  paragraph   (c)   of   this   subdivision;  any  dispute  regarding  the
  implementation of such procedure shall be subject to  a  prompt  hearing
  before an administrative law judge with the New York state department of
  labor, provided that if such judge determines that a specialized vending
  license  holder  willfully  violated  such  procedure,  such specialized
  vending license holder shall be subject to a thirty  day  suspension  of
  the  specialized vending license to peddle in the area described in this
  subdivision; if any specialized vending  license  holder  who  has  been
  determined to have willfully violated such procedure is determined, in a
  subsequent  proceeding, to have willfully violated such procedure at any
  time following the initial violation, such specialized  vending  license
  holder  shall  be  subject  to  a one-year suspension of the specialized
  vending license to peddle in the area described in this subdivision;  if
  such  specialized  vending license holder is determined for a third time
  to have willfully violated  such  procedure,  such  specialized  vending
  license   holder  shall  be  subject  to  permanent  revocation  of  the
  specialized vending license to peddle in  the  area  described  in  this
  subdivision;
    (e) specialized vending licensees under this section shall:
    (i)   permit   regular  inspections  by  the  official  in  such  city
  responsible for issuing specialized vending licenses or  any  authorized
  city  agency  of  any  goods,  vehicle,  pushcart,  or stand used in the
  operation of the vending business, or any premises used by  him  or  her
  for  the  storage  or preparation of goods intended to be vended in such
  business; and
    (ii) provide  the  official  in  such  city  responsible  for  issuing
  specialized  vending licenses or other authorized officer of the city on
  a semi-annual basis, or more often if required by local law,  by-law  or
  regulation  in  such  city,  the  address  and name of the owners or the
  manufacturers, suppliers  or  distributors  from  whom  the  specialized
  vending licensee receives his or her goods and also the address at which
  the specialized vending licensee stores his or her goods or any vehicle,
  pushcart or stand used in the operation of the vending business;
    (f)  no specialized vending licensee shall vend on any sidewalk unless
  such sidewalk is at least ten feet in width;
    (g) no vending vehicle, pushcart, stand,  goods,  or  any  other  item
  related to the operation of a vending business shall touch, lean against
  or  be  affixed  permanently or temporarily to any building or structure
  including, but not limited to, lamp posts, parking meters,  mail  boxes,
  traffic  signal  stanchions,  fire  hydrants,  tree  boxes, benches, bus
  shelters, refuse baskets or traffic barriers;
    (h) no vending pushcart, stand  or  goods  shall  be  located  against
  display  windows  of fixed location businesses, nor shall they be within
  twenty feet from an entranceway to any  commercial  building  or  store,
  measured  as  a  radius extending from the center of the doorway, except
  where such doorways are within forty feet from each other, and  in  such
  case  a vending pushcart, stand or goods shall be an equal distance from
  the center of the doorway of each such commercial business or  store  at
  the  furthest  possible distance on the sidewalk from the building line,
  and no vending pushcart, stand or goods shall be within sixty-five  feet
  of  the entranceway to any theater, movie house, indoor sports arena, or
  place of worship or school, measured as  a  radius  extending  from  the
  center of such entranceway;
    (i)  no  specialized  vending  licensee  shall  occupy more than eight
  linear feet of public space parallel to the curb in the operation  of  a
  vending  business  and,  in  addition,  no  specialized vending licensee
  operating any vending business on any sidewalk shall  occupy  more  than
  three linear feet to be measured from the curb toward the property line;
    (j)  each  specialized  vending  licensee who vends from a pushcart or
  stand in the roadway shall obey all traffic and parking laws, rules  and
  regulations  as now exist or as may be promulgated, but in no case shall
  a specialized vending licensee restrict the continued maintenance  of  a
  clear passageway for vehicles;
    (k)  no  specialized  vending licensee shall vend using the surface of
  the sidewalk, or a blanket or board placed immediately on  the  sidewalk
  or  on  top  of  a  trash  receptacle  or  cardboard  boxes  to  display
  merchandise. No specialized vending licensee  display  may  exceed  five
  feet  in  height  from  ground  level.  The display may not be less than
  twenty-four inches above the  sidewalk  where  the  display  surface  is
  parallel  to  the sidewalk, and may not be less than twelve inches above
  the sidewalk where the display surface is  vertical.  Where  a  rack  or
  other  display  structure  is placed on top of or above a table or other
  base, the size of the base shall not  be  less  than  the  size  of  the
  display structure placed thereon. Nothing shall be placed on the base so
  as  to  exceed  the  size  limitations  contained  in this paragraph. No
  specialized vending licensee shall use any area  other  than  that  area
  immediately  beneath  the surface of the display space of the storage of
  items for sale; and
    (l) no specialized vending licensee shall:
    (i) vend within any bus stop or taxi stand or within ten feet  of  any
  driveway,  any subway entrance or exit or any corner; provided, however,
  for the purpose of this subparagraph, ten feet from any corner shall  be
  measured   from   a  point  where  the  property  line  on  the  nearest
  intersecting block face, when extended,  meets  the  curb,  except  when
  noncompliance  with  the ten foot limitation of this paragraph is due to
  the placement of an obstruction. In such case  the  specialized  vending
  licensee may vend within ten feet; provided, however, that such licensee
  must  vend  as  far  as  possible from the nearest such driveway, subway
  entrance or exit, or corner, and in no event within five  feet  of  such
  driveway, subway entrance or exit, or corner;
    (ii)  vend  on the median strip of a divided roadway unless such strip
  is intended for use as a pedestrian mall or plaza;
    (iii)  vend  over  any  ventilation  grill,  cellar   door,   manhole,
  transformer vault, or subway access grating;
    (iv)  sell  or  offer  for  sale  any item directly from any parked or
  double-parked motor vehicle;
    (v) use electricity or oil or gasoline powered  equipment  devices  or
  machinery  of any kind; provided, however, that such specialized vending
  license holder shall be authorized to use self-contained  battery  packs
  not  exceeding  sixteen  volts  in  total solely to provide lighting for
  their vending business;
    (vi) vend within thirty feet of an entrance to a park or within a park
  under the jurisdiction of the agency in such city  that  is  responsible
  for   such   city's   parks   and   recreational  areas  unless  written
  authorization therefor has been obtained from such agency;
    (vii) vend within twenty feet of a sidewalk cafe;
    (viii)  vend  within  five feet from bus shelters, news stands, public
  telephones, or disabled access ramps; and
    (ix) vend within ten feet from entrances or exits to  buildings  which
  are exclusively residential at street level.
    7-a.  In  the  borough  of  Manhattan  in  the  city  of New York, the
  following  additional  provisions  shall  apply  to  the   issuance   of
  specialized  vending  licenses  to  disabled veteran vendors pursuant to
  this section:
    (a) such specialized vending license  holders  shall  additionally  be
  prohibited  from  vending  on Broadway between Murray Street and Battery
  Place and on Park Row between Ann Street and Spruce Street;
    (b) such specialized vending license  holders  shall  additionally  be
  prohibited from vending in the area including and bounded on the east by
  the  easterly  side  of  Broadway, on the south by the southerly side of
  Liberty Street, on the west by the westerly side of West Street  and  on
  the north by the northerly side of Vesey Street.
    8.  Any  dispute concerning the location of a vendor under subdivision
  three of this section shall be subject to a  prompt  hearing  before  an
  administrative  law  judge  with the New York state department of labor,
  provided that if  such  judge  determines  that  a  specialized  vending
  license  holder  willfully  violated  such  procedure,  such specialized
  vending license holder shall be subject to a thirty  day  suspension  of
  the  specialized  vending  license to peddle in the area and on the days
  and at the times described in subdivision three of this section; if  any
  specialized  vending  license  holder  who  has  been determined to have
  willfully  violated  such  procedure  is  determined,  in  a  subsequent
  proceeding,  to  have  willfully  violated  such  procedure  at any time
  following the initial violation, such specialized vending license holder
  shall be subject to a one-year suspension  of  the  specialized  vending
  license to peddle in the area and on the days and at the times described
  in  subdivision  three  of  this  section;  if  such specialized vending
  license holder is determined for a third time to have willfully violated
  such procedure, such specialized vending license holder shall be subject
  to permanent revocation of the specialized vending license to peddle  in
  the  area  and  on    the days and at the times described in subdivision
  three of this section; other disputes arising under this section,  other
  than  those disputes arising under paragraph (d) of subdivision seven of
  this section, shall  be  adjudicated  in  accordance  with  local  laws,
  ordinances, by-laws or regulations concerning general vending.
    9.  There  shall  be  established  within  the  agency responsible for
  issuing specialized vending licenses in such city an advisory  committee
  consisting  of up to six disabled veteran vendors who shall consult with
  the official designated to issue specialized vending licenses under this
  section concerning the process by which specialized vending licenses are
  issued and the restrictions herein are enforced.  The  members  of  such
  committee  shall  be elected on or before August first, nineteen hundred
  ninety-eight by a majority  of  the  disabled  veteran  vendors  holding
  general  vending  licenses in such city as of August fifteenth, nineteen
  hundred ninety-eight. The election  of  such  members  shall  be  by  an
  election  which  shall  be  conducted  by the state department of labor;
  provided, however, that if the majority of such disabled veteran vendors
  holding general vendor licenses in  such  city  as  of  June  fifteenth,
  nineteen  hundred  ninety-eight  fail  to  select  the  members  of such
  committee on or before August second, nineteen hundred ninety-eight, the
  agency responsible for issuing specialized vending licenses in such city
  may still establish procedures for issuing specialized vending  licenses
  pursuant  to  this section no later than October first, nineteen hundred
  ninety-eight. In the event a committee member resigns or  is  unable  to
  fulfill  his or her duties, such member will be replaced by someone from
  the ranks of the disabled veteran vendors by consensus  of  veterans  on
  the existing committee.
    10.  The  agency  responsible for issuing specialized vending licenses
  shall publish educational materials describing the provisions  of  state
  and local laws, rules and regulations governing disabled veteran vending
  in  the city of New York and enforcement thereof for distribution to the
  public and appropriate city enforcement agencies.
    11. Where the city of New York  authorizes  general  vending,  through
  permit, auction, lottery or any other method subsequent to the effective
  date  of  this  subdivision other than temporary general vendor licenses
  issued in connection with street fairs on  any  block  face,  street  or
  avenue  specified  in  paragraph (a) of subdivision seven or subdivision
  seven-a of this section,  the  prohibitions  and  restrictions  in  this
  section  on  vending by specialized vending licensees shall not apply on
  such block face, street or avenue and the number of specialized  vending
  licensees  authorized  per  block  face,  street  or  avenue shall, at a
  minimum, be equal to the greatest number of any  single  type  of  other
  vendor including but not limited to food, general, or vendors of written
  matter  and  others  similarly  situated  on  such block face, street or
  avenue.