officials are questioning if something fishy is going on when it comes to a special sector of quick sales and profits.
The suspects: “hawkers and peddlers” moving around the city as “transient vendors.”
The victims: city fish markets, of which there are at least a dozen, said city councilors who recently passed a resolution to examine the problem.
Tonight’s Committee on Ordinances and Legislation will take up the issue at its meeting at 5:30 p.m. at Government Center.
“I’m hearing other places and cities have addressed this through ordinance changes, and that’s what we’re looking for,” said Councilor Steven A. Camara, who sought the council resolution after speaking with owners of the Medeiros and Flint fish markets, among others, he said.
His resolution cited the struggles of small businesses, particularly in the fish and fruit-and-vegetable businesses that are prone to hawkers taking shortcuts.
“Whereas these small businesses are the primary producers of jobs,” [...]

Original post by Michael Holtzman