Sanchez on click-to-cancel rule status and staffing

And then, as you know, Commissioner, I am ecstatic about the click to cancel rule and that the momentum the agency has on this policy.

You know, I speak for myself and I know many New Yorkers who are just so freaking annoyed by companies that make it impossible to leave subscriptions,

that harass you even after you're gone, but really trap New Yorkers into subscriptions that they don't need.

So just a status update on where we are with the proposed rules and is there any staffing associated with implementation of that new rule.

Thank you.

Okay, thank you.

Two seconds to spare.

That was great.

I'm going to run through each one and we'll see how I do, okay?

And Carlos can back me up.

All right, licensing staffing.

We are confident we have the capacity in our licensing division to hit the ground running this summer on getting the general vendor licenses out the door.

We have an extremely efficient licensing division.

And I'll just say, you know, average wait time of four minutes when you're in the office, four days for processing.

Typically, most, about 90% of our licensees now apply online.

We recognize many street vendors are going to prefer the in-person option, and that is why we asked for and received six new lines for FY27.

We are confident we're going to be able to meet those needs and continue, you know, outstanding, I think, the best in the city for licensing service to our smallest small businesses and our newest licensees.

With respect to the wait list and how to prioritize, we're going to be releasing rules on that in the next couple weeks.

I could say as a general matter, Council Member, we're going to start with about the 9,000 folks who are already on the wait list, which was closed in 2016.

Once we process those applications, we'll move on to creating a new wait list and we'll start processing those applications.

So we're going to put out the rule soon, but my commitment is to make sure this process is predictable, people understand it, people know that even if they don't get a license in the first tranche, they know where they are in line.

That's really important to us.

With respect to outreach, we really want to go big this summer.

And Carlos will be able to add to this, I think, after I get through the questions.

I know we're meeting with you in a couple days about this.

We've been working with street vendor project with the Office of Street Vending with Small Business Services.

We know that this is a community not used to being helped by the city.

Usually when they interact with city officials, it's police or other enforcement.

We want to reach out to our street vendors with licenses and with information on how to obtain licenses.

So we are dedicating staff to outreach on that, and Carlos can share more.

Last, but definitely not least, we're incredibly excited about the clip-to-cancel rule, as I share your enthusiasm.

It is a proposal right now.

We are the first city.

in America to propose a rule like this.

We're very excited about it.

We received a lot of comments.

I don't know the exact number, but I think one of the most interesting comments is from the Roosevelt Institute, which estimated that this could save New Yorkers up to $160 million every year.

That is the scale of tricks and traps we are facing.

So we're extremely excited.

The next step will be we're going to make a decision about whether to adopt the rule and make it final.

Do you want to add a little bit to the outreach?

Yes, thank you, Commissioner.

I think we're already developing plans for how to meet street vendors where they are, including by identifying high-traffic areas where vendors are conducting their business activity.

Our community affairs team is six members right now, but they burn a lot of shoe leather.

I think they're, I personally believe they're the best outreach team in the city, and our overall external affairs division often contributes as well to helping out in outreach initiatives.

So I think we plan to be out there extensively over the course of the summer.

Also working with agency partners, too, to make sure that we have boots on the ground to accomplish our goals.

Thank you.

There you go.

Thank you, Chair.

Cheers.

Okay, next we have Councilmember Krishnan, followed by Councilmember Wong.