Legal Aid Refines

199 WATER STREET NEW YORK, N.Y. 10038 TEL: 212-577-3300 FAX: 212-509-8481 www.legal-aid.org

April 18, 2005 To the Environmental Control Board: As defense counsel to hundreds of licensed and unlicensed vendors who come before the New York City Criminal Court each year, the Legal Aid Society opposes the initiative to impose a two to fourfold increase in the schedule of fines for non-criminal infractions by licensed vendors. The proposed fines are a harsh excise on the working poor, largely disproportionate to their offenses, and otherwise duplicative of currently available penalties for the more egregious cases, such as impoundment and forfeiture of carts and merchandise. The proposed increases of up to $1,000 for repeat offenders would place the maximum fine for setting up too close to an entrance or crosswalk on par with a class A misdemeanors such as dealing in stolen or counterfeit goods. PL §80.05. With all due regard for the need to manage the activity of licensed vendors, a regime that equates them with thieves is difficult to defend. Moreover Draconian fines will only serve to drive them out of legitimate business, and into the unlicensed underground economy.

For the few incorrigible vendors who may deserve to be put out of business, the Administrative Code already provides a more severe and swift deterrent: seizure and forfeiture of their carts and merchandise. This approach is not only more effective from an enforcement perspective, it also provides for a greater measure of judicial discretion and review. Existing criminal and civil forfeiture consequences provide an ample measure of control over vending activity in the City. A higher tariff on minor infractions by law-abiding individuals will have harsh consequences and may spur an increase in illegal commerce.

Steven B. Wasserman Criminal Defense Division Special Litigation Unit (212) 577-3387