And vendors are supposed to bring their carts to a commissary every night for scrubbing. Michele Birnbaum, a longtime Upper East Sider, has been thinking about vending issues for two decades. Alam said. In recent years, New York City has seen a rise in the number of street vendors. When we found out that the average New York hot dog vendor has to shell out a quarter million dollars in permits alone, we were baffled. Many come to the US though black market smugglers and owe these smugglers exorbitant sums which must be paid, even though they barely have enough left over to feed themselves and their families.