NYC Gazette

Street vendors are sometimes seen as nuisances, but John Rennie Short writes that they make cities livelier and urban spaces more vibrant and welcoming, according to a recent The Conversation article.

As cities eventually out of lockdown, economic recovery is extremely important and Short says street vendors are essential to restoring cities and bringing back a sense of normalcy.

Short wrote that street vendors have much to offer cities opening during the COVID-19 crisis. He notes that street vending can help take the edge off of pandemic-related economic pain and may also help encourage social distancing in places such as shopping malls. He noted that some cities are also being reconfigured to accomodate street vendors.

"Initial U.S. economic stimulus measures favored big business and the well-connected," Short wrote. "Grants, training programs and low-interest loans, designed to help more street vendors get established, would steer support to Americans who are less wealthy and more ethnically diverse. Encouraging this kind of entrepreneurship, with its low entry cost, is a small but significantly more equitable way to stimulate the economy.

Short believes street vendors offer many benefits, including increasing public safety, generating employment and keeping people safe.

"COVID-19 has forced us to rethink city living," Short wrote. "I believe we should take the opportunity to reimagine a livelier, more interesting and more equitable post-pandemic city."

Short believes that street vending was embraced as a way to help reduce poverty and boost marginal groups, according to his article. He writes that street vending in Colombia was proclaimed illegal in 2003, but it didn't disappear altogether.

"It survived in traditional flea markets and farmer’s markets," Short wrote. "These lively urban spaces are now augmented by the motorized version of vendor’s street food: food trucks."

Food trucks have been popular for several years, recently becoming a tourist draw. Short writes that street vendors are important in helping cities get back to normal.