Fruit Stand Bill Passes

As we have been reporting the City Council has passed a fruit stand regulation bill with remarkable haste yesterday. The bill, opposed by the Korean-American Small Business Service Center as well as KAGRO (Korean grocers), would increase the regulatory power of the city in the issuance and renewal of so-called stoop stand permits.

Under the law, which we understand that the mayor will veto, the DOT will now have the obligation to conduct a pedestrian traffic study before any license approval. Under the bill's language the DOT will have to issue a report that will "contain the data used to reach its conclusions... and describe the methodology used to make its determination" (whew!).

There are a number of problems here, least of which is the potential expense to the store owners as well as the potential for bureaucratic bungling and delay. Clearly ther are anumber of neighborhoods in the city where congestion is getting out of hand. At the same time we believe that the current bill is too onerous and contains too much potential fo abuse.

The bill, passed by a 36-9 margin. has the potential to be vetoed and sustained if a few more councilmembers can be made aware of the problems in the legislation.