Statement Regarding Mayor Bowser’s Comments on Street Vending

Mayor Bowser has once again shown her willful ignorance of the law she is supposed to implement. She chooses to blame the Council for "decriminalizing vending" and saying, "You can do what you want in terms of vending." This is a lie, like many other lies she has told, so let me clarify what the law actually does. The Council passed the Street Vendor Advancement Amendment Act of 2023, setting up a regime where currently unlicensed sidewalk vendors could obtain licenses. Though it does remove criminal penalties for violation of vending laws and regulations, it sets up a revised schedule of civil penalties, still allowing for enforcement of rules established under the new law. Further, it also sets up a monitoring regime by which a sidewalk vending zone will be established and overseen by a vending manager in Columbia Heights. That vending manager will be selected from applicants who respond to an RFP from the Department of Licensing and Consumer Protection (DLCP), which the Mayor should focus on issuing since the law required her to do so within 60 days of the bill taking effect on July 1, 2023. The theft of goods is not something I or any of my colleagues condone, and we are doing all we can to address those issues at the Columbia Heights CVS and other stores in the neighborhood. We are committed to pushing DLCP to implement the street vending law to have a more organized community marketplace that allows these individuals to make a living and allows the District to manage these street vendors better.