[ZERO] Because once again the lack of police on the streets is turning into a problem - this time in the Bronx, where illegal street vendors and gamblers "have taken over a commercial strip," according to the New York Post. The takeover is a result of new city laws that make it impossible for the NYPD to confiscate goods or even demand ID from street vendors. The new law went into effect in May 2021 and moved enforcement away from NYPD and to the city's Department of Consumer Affairs and Worker Protection. Someone from the agency told the Post the law doesn't even go into effect until September.
Marko Majic, head of business development for City Jeans on East Fordham Road, told the New York Post: "It looks like a bazaar in Istanbul. The only difference is in Istanbul it’s legal and organized and here it is illegal and unorganized."
The Post reports there are now 242 sidewalk vendors, more than the 230 storefronts in the same area.
"They sell water, jewelry, masks, toys, counterfeit goods, anything you can imagine," said Wilma Alonso, director of the Fordham Road Business Improvement District. She said they even play three card monte and called the situation a "public safety crisis".