7 On Your Side: Street vendors fight to keep their coffee cart’s spot

UPPER WEST SIDE, Manhattan (WABC) — Hardworking brothers Adrian and Catalin Manmanole have spent a significant portion of their lives fueling up New Yorkers with their Upper West Side coffee cart.

“We have been here 30 years, since 1994,” they tell Eyewitness News.

Every day is an early morning scramble to get eggs on the griddle and hot coffee brewing.

For the last three decades, the duo have been on the same corner — right at 66 St and Columbus, right outside of the old Channel 7 Studios. But recently, when our old building sold and went under construction, the brothers relocated to the opposite corner.

The change was going well — that is, until their spot was suddenly taken.

The culprit? A heavy concrete flower planter.

“One day after we left, they moved the pots, they marked us illegal. Now we cannot park anymore … They put the flower pot there, no explanation, no anything.”

The pot forced them to relocate down the street, underneath scaffolding.

The brothers were distressed.

“This spot is too far from the corner, too far from the subway, too far from everything. It’s killing my business, we make not even half.”

When they asked for the planters to be moved back to their original locations, the building in charge refused to budge — so the pair contacted 7 On Your Side.

2 Lincoln Square told us the building owners didnt want the cart near its entrance.

We then asked the city to look into it.

They told us that generally, the NYC Department of Transportation won’t approve if the goal is to displace vendors, especially not ones the construction workers adore.

“The food is fresh, everything’s perfect. As long as we keep these working, we are working everyday,” one satisfied customer told Eyewitness News.

“Let’s say you were short money … he would just say ‘pay me tomorrow.’ Where do you see that in New York anymore? He’s an immigrant, he works hard, he pays taxes, these are the people we want in this country.”

After talking to the city, we reminded the building managers of DOT regulations, including the consideration to locate planters in a way that does not displace legally operating street vendors.

After hearing this, 2 Lincoln Square made an accommodation, saying it supports small business and the role of this vendor in the neighborhood.

Within 24 hours, the coffee cart was back in the correct spot.

“I was missing them, I didn’t know where they went, I finally found them,” a postal worker and regular customer reacted to the triumphant return.

As for the Manmanole brothers, they quite are satisfied to be back in their preferred spot.

“Definitely 7 is on our side, thank you.”