Street vendor clean-up in the works
August 18, 2008 at 12:14 pm by Scott Henry in NewsAt its first meeting following a six-week summer recess, the Atlanta City Council today will finally take on a knotty issue that has troubled the city for years: street vendors.
Mayors have come and gone (and gone to prison) in the time that local officials have discussed, debated and feuded over the appropriate way to clean up what has long been described as the scroungiest bunch of street vendors and sidewalk hawkers this side of Sao Paulo.
But now the Council thinks it has the answer: outsourcing.
We don’t mean they’re shipping the guys selling fake Chanel handbags outside the Five Points MARTA Station off to Mumbai – although there’s something to be said for that idea.
Rather, the Council will consider hiring a private firm to “manage” Atlanta’s street vendors. What this means is that the contractor, General Growth, a Chicago-based company that operates shopping malls, would handle the vendor licensing and equip qualified merchants with permanent kiosks that would replace the ratty folding tables some now use.
Under legislation introduced by Councilman Ceasar Mitchell, the company would collect the city-imposed license fee – about $250 a year – as well as an estimated $500 monthly rent for the kiosk. Currently, licensed vendors can set up pretty much wherever they want within designated vending zones.
“Part of the goal is to upgrade and improve the aesthetic appeal of the city’s vendor program, while maintaining protections for historical vendors,” Mitchell tells CL, explaining that some merchants have worked the sidewalks for years.
But won’t the additional rent drive some vendors out of business? Possibly, but Mitchell says research shows that most vendors spend about that much on putting up and taking their booths each day – so the cost is already built into their overhead. Plus, he says, there will be exemptions made for disabled vets and others.
Currently, there are 101 vendor licenses in the city, but only about 60 of them are active; the city has been reluctant to license new vendors while the program was in flux. If the outsourcing goes well, Mitchell hopes the city would consider greatly expanding the number of available licenses – and not just for the entrances of MARTA stations, but all over Atlanta.
Send to a friend:
Leave a Reply