David Yassky

New Rules, Technology Will Make City’s EnvironmentalControl Board Fairer for Street Vendors

By BROOKLYN EAGLE Published: June 17, 2008

New rules and 21st century technology are designed to make the Environmental Control Board (ECB) more equitable and efficient for small business street vendors.

“Small businesses are the backbone of New York City, and we need to do what we can on the local level to keep them working, creating jobs and fueling our economy,” said City Council Speaker Christine Quinn in a press release. “By bringing the Environmental Control Board’s operations into the 21st century and making the proceedings fairer and more efficient, we’re helping ECB live up to its mission — improving quality of life for everyday New Yorkers.”

Quinn and Council Members James Gennaro, Simcha Felder, David Yassky, Leroy Comrie and Thomas White, have introduced legislation with reforms that will upgrade technological services, add foreign language capability, improve compliance, speed up the process and increase the board’s independence.

Currently, small business owners who receive notices of violation often have to make multiple trips to ECB hearings or simply plead guilty to the charge because cases do not move forward unless agency witnesses are present. The process is further complicated by a lack of clear rules governing the presentation of relevant pieces of evidence (i.e. documents, lists of witnesses, etc.). In addition, ECB currently has only limited translation capability.

Established in 1972 as part of the Department of Environmental Protection, the ECB has evolved into the city’s second largest administrative tribunal that receives approximately 700,000 cases per year, including code enforcement and quality of life violations, and handles about 175,000 hearings a year, which are conducted in five borough offices.

“I am keenly aware that the issue of complying with food vendor codes has proven to be a difficult process, especially for new immigrants,” said Consumer Affairs Committee Chair Leroy Comrie. “Today’s reform proposals, especially with respect to the improvement of translation services and compliance standards, will be helpful in addressing the bureaucratic red tape that our city’s food vendors face when they are dealing with the Environmental Control Board.”

© Brooklyn Daily Eagle 2008 All materials posted on BrooklynEagle.com are protected by United States copyright law. Just a reminder, though -- It’s not considered polite to paste the entire story on your blog. Most blogs post a summary or the first paragraph,( 40 words) then post a link to the rest of the story. That helps increase click-throughs for everyone, and minimizes copyright issues. So please keep posting, but not the entire article. arturc at att.net