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Sanitation describes warnings-first approach, heavy confiscations and need for staffing to match any licensing expansion
Summary
The Department of Sanitation described its street-vending enforcement approach and reported inspection and confiscation figures; DSNY said enforcement is largely complaint-driven, civil in nature, and that its sanitation police have limited staffing amid rising 311 complaints and confiscations.
The Department of Sanitation told the council that the agencywas designated in April 2023 as the lead agency coordinating enforcement of vending rules and described a warnings-first approach supplemented by inspections, summonses and confiscations.
"This enforcement is civil in nature and Sanitation Police as a general rule do not make arrests," Deputy Commissioner Joshua Goodman said. Goodman told the committee that DSNY sanitation police focus on cleanliness, pedestrian clearance and safety hazards and that the mayoral transfer of enforcement to DSNY followed a public vote (Proposition 2) allowing DSNY to enforce vendor rules in some public areas.
Goodman cited enforcement activity and workload: 35 sanitation police assigned to street vending enforcement have conducted more than 8,000 inspections and issued approximately 5,000 summonses in fiscal 2025 year-to-date; the agency said it has composted or donated about 1.25 million pounds of food that was abandoned or being vended illegally. In a July-to-April period DSNY reported roughly 8,390 inspections and 3,374 confiscations; 16% of confiscated items were retrieved, 38% remained in storage, and 46% were donated, composted or discarded.
On how enforcement locations are chosen, DSNY said activity is largely complaint driven through 311, requests from community groups and direct referrals from council members. DSNY and testifying agencies said they already work with multilingual outreach, language line services and staff fluent in several languages to increase cultural competence during inspections.
Council members pressed the department on coordination with NYPD. Goodman said DSNY generally coordinates NYPD presence only where a criminal matter is suspected, such as counterfeit goods or suspected drug activity, and that DSNY is the lead agency on street-vending operations citywide.
DSNY and council members debated staffing needs: the agency said the 35 sanitation police are at capacity and urged that any licensing expansion consider proportional increases in enforcement personnel to preserve sidewalk clearance and public-safety standards.
Ending: DSNY emphasized that licensed vendors are easier to work with and that expanding licenses without matched enforcement resources and siting compliance would not by itself resolve sidewalk obstruction complaints.
