Times Square

New Report Outlines Impact of COVID-19 on NYC’s Street Food Vendors | Eater NY

"Once a bustling street vending center, Times Square was turned into a ghost town when most office employees began working from home; vendors surveyed reported devastating losses, with 98 percent of respondents (many of them food vendors) reporting no earnings in April 2020. By June only 26 percent had gone back to work and those who did earned on average just 20 percent of what they made in February, many vendors reported having contracted COVID-19, being shut out of small-business loans due to documentation or payroll issues, relying on stimulus or Pandemic Unemployment Assistance that often wasn’t enough, and having to borrow, deplete savings, or sell assets — all while continuing to receive tickets from enforcement even after the mayor announced changes to enforcement responsibility." - Tanay Warerkar