The District will award its first new street vendor licenses in more than eight years under a revamped system debuting this week, and at the same time open dozens of downtown sites to aspiring merchants via a lottery drawing.
New vending license applications will be accepted today for the first time since the D.C. Council enacted a moratorium in 1998. Approved licensees will initially vie for 21 new vending locations in the 120-block Downtown Business Improvement District.
Through its overhauled program, the Department of Consumer and Regulatory Affairs hopes to broaden vending options while regulating the industry. The new system requires sellers to purchase both a vending license from DCRA and a public space permit from the D.C. Department of Transportation.
The 21 locations will be doled out during a March 7 lottery. DDOT, which selects vendor locations, will unveil more sites in phases, starting with the central business zone in July and eventually expanding citywide.
“We want to do this is a very orderly manner,” said Karyn-Siobhan Robinson, DCRA spokeswoman.
Under the previous vending program, sellers fought for locations, rules were unenforceable and tax revenues went uncollected. The moratorium, during which the number of licensed vendors collapsed from 3,000 to 645, allowed the city to address its vending issues, according to DCRA, but it “limited opportunities for small entrepreneurs.”
“The loss ofvending’s contributions to our streetscape and our tax base and especially the loss to the livelihood of our vendors represented a true loss to the District of Columbia,” Ward 1 Council Member Jim Graham said during a hearing on the issue last year.
DCRA will distribute and enforce licenses, DDOT will identify sites and provide permits and the Department of Health will inspect food vendors.
Updated vending program
» Applications for March 7 lottery accepted through March 5
» Requires “Clean Hands Certificate” from Metropolitan Police Department and the Office of Tax and Revenue
