66: Sliced mango from the Union Square Mango Cart (14th Street between Broadway and University) We’re not going to barbecue or anything like that.Dish no. We can pay for the license if we have to. If it’s just two or three people per station, that’s fine. He needs to understand us, please let us just sell in the train stations. What would you tell the mayor about street vendors like yourself? When school lets out, it gets too crowded, and we leave the platforms. We respect the space-we’re from this neighborhood. We are very, very careful selling on the platforms, we are a very small operation. I care about safety, you can’t have people cooking on the platforms. I don’t bring that much stuff, but there are people that abuse it. These are people abusing what we have.įor me, it’s just me and my cart. That’s totally different from what I sell. Sometimes, there’s vendors with two or three people working at a table they’ve set up-that gets the attention of the police. In truth, there are people taking advantage of the situation. He said that you had to be arrested because if you weren’t, then people would feel like they could do things like grill on subway platforms, have gas tanks, things like that. People want the fruit, I’m not obligating them to eat it!ĭid you see what the mayor said on Monday about your arrest? People love how clean and well-presented my fruit is. We have Clorox, the whole thing is very clean. And it’s all very sanitary-we change gloves each time we touch the fruit. But people love the mango during the summer, with the spice on it. Oh, I don’t have a favorite, they’re all equal to me. We don’t ask for handouts or anything like that. The only thing we rely on is Medicaid for my daughter. And I don’t like relying on government programs. That’s just for a home! That’s not counting food. But on the street, it’s too competitive-people are underselling you. Since 2010, and that’s where I do almost all of my work now. How long have you been a vendor at Broadway Junction? And honestly, it’s not the police who notice us. And then they let me go with a court date in 20 days after that.ĭo you have a license to be a street vendor?īut the problem is that the license doesn’t let you sell in the subway. If you have drugs or something like that, but I had nothing! Nothing! They made me take off all my clothes. But then I got checked by a female police officer, they inspected my body to see if I had a weapon, other things you’re not allowed to have in jail. I was taken to the police station this time. “I don’t like relying on government programs. I want them to understand that we can’t stop working, we’re not hurting anyone. Chocolates, mangoes, my cart, absolutely everything. She has a 3-year-old and she needs to work-sometimes until three in the morning. ![]() One of my daughters doesn’t have a husband. For that reason-the flexible hours-I’m able to help my children and grandchildren. I’m able to take them to school, then I can go work, then I can pick them up. I also have three grandchildren now that I help take care of. I love to be a vendor because I have a daughter that I need to take to school and that I have to pick up. ![]() On really good days, between $90 and $100. On an average day, I make between $70 and $80. I would get hassled by the police, sometimes they would throw out all my products, but I had to fight for my daughters. In 2009, I started selling fruits in the train stations, and during the winter I would sell churros. On Eastern Parkway, also in Prospect Park. I started in 2008, selling ice cream in the street in Brooklyn. When did you start selling fruit on the subway? My two daughters needed to eat, needed clothes. If you worked all day in my country, you’d make around $5 a day. My husband, he left me-and we had two daughters. Back home, I was suffering from extraordinary poverty. The truth is that I came to work and fight for my life.
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