Saigon officials are planning to organize designated street food areas for vendors impacted by the city's ongoing sidewalk-clearing campaign.
According to VnExpress, city leaders want to set up street food areas starting this summer to give vendors room to work and share Saigon's street culture.
In District 1, vendors will likely be moved to Nguyen Van Chiem Street near Notre Dame Cathedral and Bach Dang Park along Ton Duc Thang Street, the news source reports, though the plan isn't set in stone yet.
VnExpress quotes the Ho Chi Minh City Law newspaper, which ran an interview with District Chairman Tran The Thuan. In the article, Thuan told the paper that this vendor area "won't just be a place of business; it will show the city's special culture".
Street vendors have been severely impacted by Saigon's ongoing sidewalk-clearing campaign. According to VnExpress, bánh mì vendors have been left in tears as police officers rolled their carts away. Other vendors have swapped their cart for a basket in order to be able to move quickly.
The news outlet also highlighted the story of Tran Le Thuy Van, who has been selling noodles on Mac Dinh Chi Street for five years. When the sidewalk crackdown began, officials told Van she could only work for two hours in the morning and two hours around lunchtime, a very limited window.
