Democratic mayoral candidate Andrew Yang tried on Monday to reverse his controversial tweet calling for a crackdown on unlicensed street vendors – telling reporters he “regrets” bringing up the “complicated and nuanced issue” on social media. .
“I am sorry that I tackled such a downright complicated and nuanced issue in that medium. It wasn’t the right medium for it, ”Yang told reporters at an unrelated event in Brooklyn.
The mayor’s predecessor called the harsh online response to his tweet ‘a product of that medium’.
Yang said his tweet – calling for “enforcement of rules against unlicensed street vendors” – made the issue appear “as if it were a zero-sum game between unlicensed street vendors and retailers,” which he said was not his intention.
“I understand if anyone took it as my presentation,” said the current leader in the June 22 Democratic primary elections.
“That was … I think, a product of that medium, something I regret.”
“I love street vendors as many New Yorkers do, and I support the measures to try to increase the number of licenses,” he said, noting that Counsel Margaret Chin, who sponsored legislation passed earlier this year, gave support for his mayor’s bid. to expand the number of vendor licenses.
“The goal should be to increase the number of licenses and support these suppliers and bring them more into the formal economy.”
Yang’s Sunday morning tweet sparked backlash from some online New Yorkers who were still outraged by the NYPD’s treatment of a churro seller in a viral caught-on-video incident in 2019.
Several of his opponents held a press conference on Monday specifically to denounce the tweet.
“He wants to send a crackdown on vendors and enforcement to the immigrant communities that helped us get through the pandemic,” co-mayor and city councilor Scott Stringer said at the event.
“We cannot have a leader who tweets first and thinks second, not understanding that words have policy implications.”
But Yang said he had heard from “I think five different small businesses” were upset that the city had not cracked down on specific vendors who “chase customers away.” The pressure to expand street vendor licenses has been thwarted by some restaurant groups.
“The vast majority of unlicensed street vendors add value in various ways,” Yang told reporters.
“But if there’s a problem, maybe for an individual small business in a particular location, where they say, hey, this particular illegal street vendor is doing something that somehow scares customers away or is doing something I don’t like, like they call the city now, they don’t actually get any help or response. “
“At the very least, you would want that street vendor without a permit to just switch locations. Like, move. No one is suggesting anything particularly punitive, ”he said.
“I think most people would agree that in that situation it seems like a very reasonable question to ask that unlicensed street vendor to at least move that location.”
Additional reporting by Sam Raskin