Generations of Bostonians have been shopping from the iconic pushcarts that appear at Haymarket on Thursday through Saturdays, but visitors may notice the setup is a little different since a nearby hotel that opened in the spring. Longtime street vendors are at odds with a recently opened Hilton hotel, and it has to do with space. The pushcarts are in default of an order mandating that they clear the sidewalks within 30 days.A community benefits agreement allows vendors to lease the space under the hotel for storage, but they can’t condense enough to also clear the sidewalk.At the end of every day, vendors are supposed to pack away their wood pallets and tents inside a space leased under the hotel. “We have two forklifts and all kinds of other stuff that you need to have down here to work,” Otto Gallato, the president of the Haymarket Pushcart Association said. Pushcart operators fear this could be a step toward squeezing them out altogether. “I would love for someone to come up with some help in terms of storage,” Gallato said. “This Saturday night will be a key indication if we can try to put as much of it in either that or we’re going to have to just go to a different system of setting up.”
Generations of Bostonians have been shopping from the iconic pushcarts that appear at Haymarket on Thursday through Saturdays, but visitors may notice the setup is a little different since a nearby hotel that opened in the spring.
Longtime street vendors are at odds with a recently opened Hilton hotel, and it has to do with space.
The pushcarts are in default of an order mandating that they clear the sidewalks within 30 days.
A community benefits agreement allows vendors to lease the space under the hotel for storage, but they can’t condense enough to also clear the sidewalk.
At the end of every day, vendors are supposed to pack away their wood pallets and tents inside a space leased under the hotel.
“We have two forklifts and all kinds of other stuff that you need to have down here to work,” Otto Gallato, the president of the Haymarket Pushcart Association said.
Pushcart operators fear this could be a step toward squeezing them out altogether.
“I would love for someone to come up with some help in terms of storage,” Gallato said. “This Saturday night will be a key indication if we can try to put as much of it in either that or we’re going to have to just go to a different system of setting up.”
