The City honors his life, mourns his death, and pledges that we will never forget him. We also send our thoughts and prayers to Captain Scott LaPiedra and his family. Captain LaPiedra is in critical condition after being severely burned in the same fire, and we are all hoping for his speedy recovery from these terrible injuries. We're not going to put anyone out of business. Instead, it's another attempt to improve the quality of life of the people of the City, a sensible and limited effort to clear congestion in a few specific areas - primarily a few blocks in Midtown Manhattan and the financial district.
Sidewalk vendors are vital to our streetscape.
They help to define New York - and offer hot dogs, pretzels, bagels, coffee and more to people throughout the City. Our Vendor Review Panel simply allows individuals in these parts of the city to petition for restrictions. We aren't changing the laws or significantly increasing the amount of area where vending can be regulated. But what we are doing is once again applying existing statutes that had been ignored or neglected - with often unfortunate results. I look forward to working with the people of the City to make this new policy work, and to continue building a city in which New Yorkers respect the rights of one another - because that is a better city for all of us.