An illegal vendor makes his way along Brighton Beach last week. Brooklyn
Brooklyn's beaches have become open-air markets for illegal vendors peddling everything from cotton candy and ice cream to beer and Jell-O shots, community activists charge, according to the New York Daily News.
Brazen entrepreneurs are pushing their wares - including tie-dyed dresses, homemade jewelry and full cases of cigarettes - with impunity, disturbing beachgoers and ticking off local businesses.
"It's an open-air supermarket," said Brighton Beach activist Ida Sanoff, who even saw one bold hawker pushing bottles of Smirnoff vodka. "We've got a beach that's full of illegal vendors selling booze and cigarettes - you name it."
Brooklyn's three beaches - Coney Island, Manhattan and Brighton - cover nearly 150 acres, giving the traveling salespeople plenty of space to wander.
To make matters worse, there are fewer Parks Department enforcement agents to stop them than ever before. Many of the agents have been cut in recent years due to budget belt-tightening.
Joe Puleo, vice president of Local 983, the union that represents the Park Enforcement Patrol officers who write tickets, said, "We've noticed numerous vendors and shopping carts but officers don't have the visibility.
"When you reduce enforcement, priorities get shifted."
Puleo said there are only two PEP supervisors assigned to Brooklyn's beaches - and they rely on seasonal workers and welfare-to-work employees to report illegal vendors.
"Beer has always been a problem, but now it's out in the open and now they're not even hiding it," he said. "There's nobody there to confiscate it."
A Parks Department spokeswoman said there were a total of 28 Parks employees - including PEP officers, seasonal workers, welfare-to-work and park rangers - assigned to Brooklyn beaches this summer, down eight from last year.
"We go to where the populations are as best we can," she said.
Beachgoers said they rarely, if ever, see green-shirted officers busting chotsky-slingers or booze buyers.
"I've never seen anyone come up to them and say, 'You can't do this here,'" said Bronx resident Christian Lambow, 18, at Coney Island beach last week. "In Central Park, someone gets stopped immediately."
Marine Park resident Robert Raimond, 63, said he enjoys the beach-side service.
"I don't have to get up, put my shoes on, walk all the way back to the Boardwalk and probably pay more for the beer than just sitting in the chair and have it handed to me," he said.
Last week, the Daily News observed at least six vendors pushing everything from mango slices to Coronas. When approached by a reporter, they refused to speak.
Brighton Beach BID executive director Yelena Makhnin said the new illegal vendors flooding the beach were taking dollars away from legitimate businesses.
"Businesses, they say enough is enough; something should be done," said Makhnin.
"A guy who doesn't pay rent, he takes business away from the restaurant who pays rent. There should be some more enforcement."
A police spokeswoman said cops have issued 20 tickets for unlicensed vending in Coney Island since the beach opened in May.
Read More:
No comments:
Post a Comment