Council GOP Leader Joann Ariola blasted for backing law decriminalizing illegal vending

Small business advocates slammed Republican Council Minority Leader Joann Ariola for voting to override Mayor Eric Adams’ veto of legislation to decriminalize illegal vending — after she first opposed the bill along with other conservatives.

Ariola’s switcheroo helped secure enough support to quash Adams’ veto in a tight vote and allow the controversial measure to become law, shocked pols and Adams’ office said.

“Joann sold us out. She’s for herself not the good of the city,” fumed Councilman Robert Holden, a conservative Democrat who co-chairs the Common Sense Caucus with Ariola, and who voted against the override.

“I don’t want a flood of illegal vendors selling stuff in my neighborhood,” Holden said.

Holden said the Council actually paused the roll call because leadership lacked the two-thirds or 34 votes to override the veto — but Ariola’s late vote helped secure the override following huddles in the Council chambers.

Anthony Anunziata, the Queens Republican Party chairman who owns a florist in Maspeth, expressed surprise at Ariola for backing a law that hurts merchants by decriminalizing illegal vending.

“It’s a travesty. Decriminalizing illegal vending takes away from legitimate businesses and brick and mortar stores. It’s going to hurt small businesses,” Anunziata said.

First Deputy Mayor Randy Mastro said City Hall was “blindsided” by Ariola because she voted against the bill when it first passed the Council, before the mayor’s veto.

“She went from a no vote to a yes vote. It hurts legitimate businesses and legal vendors, many of whom are immigrants,” Mastro said.

“It’s just not fair and not right to encourage illegal vending.”

Mastro also said, dripping with sarcasm, “I thought [Ariola] was supposed to be the loyal opposition. I didn’t know she was going to be loyal to the Speaker [Democrat Adrienne Adams].

The legislation — Intro 47-B — was pushed in part to help protect migrants operating as unlicensed vendors at a time when President Trump is ramping up deportation of illegal aliens.

Council members backing the bill said they were heeding the advice of a street advisory task force set up in 2021 that recommended eliminating misdemeanor criminal charges and instead imposing a range of civil fines and penalties on unlicensed food and merchandise vendors.

Last year, the NYPD issued 1,688 criminal summonses for illegal vending.

Ariola defended her switch, blaming the Adams administration for not enforcing the law against illegal vendors.

“Bottom line – my vote was a protest vote against mayoral inaction and egotism. In my own district we’ve had major issues with vendors for years, and I’ive consistently pleaded for help, only for the administration to refuse to utilize the enforcement that was in place,” Ariola said.

“Right outside of City Hall, too, we had a ton of illegal vendors set up for years, but all of a sudden there is a crackdown the day of the vote? This is all for election time optics and nothing else.”

Now that it’s election time, Ariola said, the mayor is “suddenly” concerned about the issue, calling the veto a “campaign stunt.”

The NYPD and Sanitation Department still have the authority to impose fines on unlicensed vendors and confiscate merchandise they’re peddling.

“If the mayor were truly serious about this issue, and wasn’t just trying to get his name in the papers, he would have proposed stricter regulations on vending locations and tougher fines and we could roll out a real crack down on our well-known trouble spots with the tools currently available. I won’t be holding my breath, waiting for that to happen,” she said.