The NYC Street Vendor Project Spreads Overseas

Could you imagine leaving the luxuries of New York City - its useful subway system, designer boutiques, and Grande mocha lattes - for a place where about only 0.4 percent of the population has indoor plumbing? Well, one New Yorker can. And this January, Fulbright award recipient Sean Basinski will travel alone to Lagos, Nigera - all for the sake of street vendors.

In 2001, this 36-year-old University of Pennsylvania graduate established the New York City Street Vendor Project - located right on William Street - to act as a collective voice for street vendors. "If street vendors are strong and organized, there's no saying what we can do," Basinski said in an informal New York University journalism class interview.

And now, he's taking that mentality overseas to Lagos, the sixth largest city in the world, with a population of 8 million, according to a 2006 Nigerian census. Basinski, who has spent one year in Africa before, will now remain there for six months, where just plans to "spend a lot of time talking to vendors in the streets and the markets." He said he aims to discover what street vendors in Lagos and New York can learn from one another. Basinski will study vendor laws and the lack of street vendor organization in the country, he said. He also suggested he might make a short film based on his experiences.

"I'm sure I'll have a lot of new ideas and I'm sure I'll see things differently," he said, "I think it's going to be thrilling."

But before he goes, Basinski has to find and train someone to manage the Street Vendor Project in his place. The project primarily educates NYC street vendors about restrictions and regulations. Some violations, like setting up to close to a building entrance, can result in $50 tickets. With each ticket handed out, the fine can escalate to $1000 or more.

Some Community Board One members, like John Fratta, call for even more police enforcement against vendors. Fratta asked for increased NYPD enforcement on Fulton Street, according to the minutes of a July 2008 Community Board One meeting. Basinski, on the other hand, thinks police education about vendors is the greater need. His other goals include opening license lists, opening more streets to vending and reducing fees, Basinski said.

Trips out of the country and possible movie plans make Basinski's job seem almost easy. Yet, he faces challenges in dispelling community myths about vending and in getting vendors to support each other by attending meetings. "They are struggling to get by and... they have no reason to believe that what we are doing can actually achieve change," he said in a follow up e-mail interview.