Mayoral Candidate Rescues Brooklyn Coffee Vendor from Bureaucratic Bumbling

Are you a small coffee retailer having problems with the city? When possible, the solution may be to reach out to someone who is running for mayor.

Ahmed Khalifa, owner of the Brooklyn coffee stand

The New York Daily News yesterday reported on Ahmed Khalifa, a 51-year-old Egyptian immigrant who has been vending coffee at the same Brooklyn streetside location for the past 16 years. Last week, the city informed that a newly installed bike rack put his cart in violation of a city ordinance that requires street food vendors to keep at least 10 feet of distance from the racks.

Seeing an opportunity to help a local working man and small business owner help escape certain doom from bureaucratic blundering, City Council Speaker and mayoral hopeful Christine Quinn (D-Chelsea) came to the rescue, pleading with the transportation department to move the rack just outside of Khalifa’s 10-foot radius. Then, Quinn told the paper, “Today is a great day for small businesses. It’s a day when bureaucracy got its head out of the sand and said, ‘we’re not going to penalize hard working people.’ Common sense prevailed and a man’s business gets to go on.”

She’s likely to get at least one vote.