Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani announced a plan yesterday to force illegal sidewalk vendors off 125th Street in Harlem starting on Monday, by creating a nearby open-air market for many of them and then moving ahead with police sweeps of unlicensed vendors who remain.
Under the plan, the city would grant special licenses to more than 400 illegal vendors and permit them to sell their wares at an "alternative market" in two vacant lots at Lenox Avenue and 116th and 117th streets. Any vendors who continue to operate illegally on 125th Street would be subjected to fines of $250 to $1,000, confiscation of their goods and possibly arrest.
Appearing with supportive merchants and elected officials at City Hall yesterday, Mr. Giuliani sought to portray the plan as an economic boon for the neighborhood and for vendors trying to establish legal businesses.
But the crackdown could lead to a confrontation. When Mayor David N. Dinkins announced a similar plan to open a market two years ago, dozens of vendors staged a raucous protest that disrupted business and traffic on 125th Street, and the administration backed down.
The appearance of illegal vendors on 125th Street and other commercial strips around the city has been a source of recurring complaints from established merchants. While the vendors say they are simply scratching out a living, the merchants say they steal customers, block the sidewalks and create litter, without having to pay the taxes established businesses do.
Mr. Giuliani said vendors had proliferated "out of control," eroding the quality of life along the commercial heart of Harlem, where as many as 1,000 vendors a day turn the street into a blocks-long bustling bazaar of perfumes, books, T-shirts, African artifacts and bootleg videos.
"There's a distinct need to bring this vendor situation under control," he said.
The Mayor's plan prompted mixed reactions on 125th Street yesterday. Michael Yoba, 38, a vendor from Harlem who was selling incense and handmade wooden necklaces near the Apollo Theater, was dismissive. He said the vendors offered an important service and would continue to do so despite the Mayor's warnings.
"I will be here on Monday," Mr. Yoba said. "There's too many people here to get rid of us all. There's too many mouths to feed."
Merchants, however, welcomed the crackdown, though some were skeptical that it would prove lasting. Sue Seo, a Korean immigrant who owns World Fashion, a clothing store nearby, said the city had promised to move the vendors before without success.
"They don't want to pay the tax," she said of the vendors, several of whom crowded the sidewalk in front of the store. "We have to pay the tax, and other business taxes and the rent, which isn't cheap. When they sell something for $1, $2, that's it. It's been real hard for us."
The control of illegal vendors, particularly on 125th Street, has stymied city officials for years.
The city now licenses two types of vendors, who are allowed to operate only on certain streets. The Department of Health licenses about 3,000 food vendors, while the Department of Consumer Affairs issues 853 licenses to general vendors selling everything else.
Officials estimated that there are as many as 10,000 general vendors operating without licenses, generating potential tax revenues as high as $300 million a year.
Under the Mayor's plan, worked out after several months of talks with elected officials and merchants in Harlem, the city will charge vendors $7 a day to operate in the lots on Lenox Avenue. The market will be operated by Malcolm Shabazz Masjid, a mosque on Lenox, which will return 30 percent of the revenue to the city.
The lots are slated for redevelopment and thus will be available for only a year, after which the city hopes to find a new location, possibly an indoor market like Mart 125 on 125th Street.
The city has already accepted 478 applications for the licenses, but that is far less than the number of vendors who congregate on 125th Street. The city will give preference to vendors from Harlem first and from the city second.
While officials cited the number of applicants as a sign of enthusiasm, it remains to be seen whether the market will attract the steady flow of customers of the busier thoroughfare eight blocks north.
Rudy Washington, the Commissioner of Business Services, whose office drafted the plan, said that the goal was to provide opportunities for illegal vendors to establish themselves as legitimate businesses. He said the city would hold orientations for vendors starting today.
Vendors who resist the move will face fines, seizures and possibly arrest. Lieut. Raymond Ferrari, a spokesman for the Police Department, said that officers from the 28th Precinct would begin clearing the streets at 12:01 A.M. on Monday.
"We'll take it step by step," the lieutenant said. "We'll confiscate materials, and we'll arrest individuals if need be. We don't expect any confrontation at this time."
