Who cares?Originally Posted by ZippyTheChimp
The NYPD Cares !!!
Hopefully this "eye in the sky" is not temporary and just for MLK holiday today. Lofter should be presented with a community award for his suggestion earlier!
There were also several "beat" police officers and alliance for downtown security guys patrolling the space usually occupied by the illegal customers (and illegal vendors).
Last edited by Sherpa; January 18th, 2010 at 02:47 PM.
They don't.
They are just being paid to be there.
Anyway... pun lost.
You know that NYPD watches what we write here -- and sometimes listens to what we have to say
Too bad that PANYNJ doesn't do the same
Still does not mean they care about the handbag thing.
It isn't cool, or glamorous to bust a street vendor like that, it is a PITA. The difference between that and some of teh drug busts or other higher profile enforcement is like Riding the horse and cleaning up the poop it leaves behind. Both are important, but one....
Wait a sec... Do cops clean the poop their horses leave behind?
From Curbed
Canal Street Crackdown
It's no secret that Canal Street's "Counterfeit Triangle" is rocking on its heels after a series of police raids and seizures, and in an exhaustive report on the city's crackdown, the New York Press's Matt Harvey writes that even Canal Street's legitimate businesses are getting caught in the net. We know what you're thinking: There are legitimate businesses on Canal Street? Apparently so. With the dying days of the open-air black market upon us, and new buildings like One York and the Sheraton Tribeca popping up, is the long-awaited gentrification of Canal Street really happening this time? We know one lady who hopes so! [NY Press]
Our tax dollars at work.
Protecting the interests of LVMH, Chanel etc.
It is so important to the US economy that our underpaid bicycle tackling police force spends its time doing important things.
Like protecting the world from Terrorism and unlicensed handbags....
I found these comments to the article of interest
Posted at 01/21/2010
docnerd
The independent vendors are being crushed by the illegal organizations taking over their turf. The reason for the increasing crackdowns is that organized crime has taken over what used to be a much more loose and casual consortium of vendors. Nobody wants to bust hard working immigrants, but it is organized crime that is behind the physical threats and intimidation, the funding of terrorism and human trafficking, the widely documented money laundering. Did you interview any of the landlords who have not been busted? Do you know how much the complicit landlords make off the books to rent to the illegal vendors? Don't treat this as a rich-versus-poor story until you know the facts. Anyone doing legitimate (or even semi-legitimate) business on Canal Street should be happy to see the organized crime crackdown. Legitimate landlords and honest vendors will benefit from this crackdown.
Posted at 01/21/2010
Troy Torrison
This article it's so full of half-truths and distortions and obvious 'cry me a river' bias I don't know where to begin. I live a few blocks south of Canal and the sidewalks on the weekends are AWASH with people. Lack of shoppers? Last Sunday I went from the Canal Street subway at Broadway to Times Square and the sidewalks of Canal Street were far more crowded with tourists. This is why the hotels and Starbucks are opening in the area. The huge population growth in Tribeca and shopping destinations in Soho have created huge opportunities for landlords to RAISE rents, not lower them. How you bought the stories of these building owners is beyond me. The rich are truly going to be richer very soon. So what do do with these vendors selling the fakes? The writer passes no judgements. Perhaps he'd feel differently if they were selling fake medicines or fake law degrees or engaging in identity theft? Where does one draw the line at the tolerance of fakes? Are fake Rolexes OK because we hate the Swiss? Or the bankers who wear the watches? Most people in this town make a living at something that is under threat from counterfeits. To condone these vendors selling knockoff bags, watches, perfumes, "genuine" 14 K gold that's actually 10K at best because they aren't born in America or middle class is a classic example of muddle-headed thinking. These vendors who have been arrested face little or no real threat of prison which is why they continue to pop up after every raid. From what I can tell, many of the vendors are organized and employ lookouts, safe houses, and minivans that double as warehouses and showrooms. The threat to a real store like Coach just to the north of these knockoff sellers is real. Of course these vendors will tell you that times are tough for them, I'm sure some of these guys would like to be making a legitimate living, but the writer seems to think the solution is letting the illegal market expand unchecked by nasty police. Let the African guys with the suitcases full of DVDs force people pushing strollers on to Canal Street. But something tells me Matt Harvey would not be amused if I copied and pasted his words and tried to sell them as my own to another paper. I have a feeling his lawyer would be all over me for that. Regardless of whether I spoke Mandarin or not.
Posted at 01/21/2010
anonymous
These are lies because the African street merchants are not being busted. --Canal Street Merchant
The thing with Coach,
it's made in China. The actual cost of the product is peanuts. What you are paying for is the advertising that makes you want to buy it.
And all the hard work of the New York-based designers who live and work and pay rent etc in this city.
No pity at all.
None.
The "hard working" designers get peanuts, as with most professions. The workers are rarely rewarded.
Again, Fashion Sucks. No pity.
NH: Are the results of all your work now available for anyone to copy free of charge, with no control by or compensation to yourself?
P.S.
NH.. Are you a Nudist Anarchist?
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