Health Concerns

Health Department Declines to Reinstate Pee-nut Man’s Permit

Photo: Daniel Maurer

As expected, protesters showed up in front of Health Department headquarters on Tuesday with signs like “We Need to Pee just like anyone else,” as NY1 footage shows. It’s uncertain whether that’s what helped Mohammed Shirajul Islam, the vendor whose license was stripped during a bathroom break, get an expedition hearing with the DOH, but either way, it didn’t help him much. According to a press release that the Street Vendor Project has sent to us, the Health Department declined to reinstate his permit.

Islam was cited for not bringing his cooking utensils or a notarized letter from the garage where he stores his cart, neither of which the DOH told him to bring, as well as for soot in one corner of his cart and a malfunctioning burner.

It sounds like Islam will get his permit back soon enough pending a follow-up hearing, but here’s the interesting part: It’s estimated the vendor is losing $100 a day. So that’s what nut men make? For this line of work, you truly do have to be nuts 4 nuts.

Health Department Declines to Reinstate Pee-nut Man’s Permit