NYC shutters beloved newsstand vendor, slaps him with $92K in fines: ‘They’re killing me’
A longtime Manhattan newsstand vendor is now hawking papers like an old-school newsboy after the city slapped him with $92,000 in fines and shuttered the kiosk he’s operated for 23 years.
“The city says they support community, small businesses and the economy — but they’re killing me,” Sadik Topia told The Post as he peddled papers by hand outside of his closed newsstand on West 79th Street and Broadway last week.
Topia, a 59-year-old immigrant from Gujarat, India, was kicked out by the city Department of C𒁃onsumer and Worker Protection on Nov. 7, after failiౠng to put a dent in the unpaid fines he owes.
On Nov. 21, Topia learned he must pay a startling $58,400 fee f♕or selling e-cigarette products after his license to do so expired, according to records obtained by The Post.
A city inspector observed Topia selling e-cigs on 🍃Sept. 19, 2022, which was after his license expired on Dec. 1, 2021.
He was then fined $100 per day for 584 days — between the day his license expired and July 12, 2023, when there was a hearing about the violation.
Topia argued he only sold the items withou🌺t a license for 13 days.
The 🦄Norwood, Bronx resident also ow🦋es $34,000 for having improper shelves in the kiosk, and selling a phone charger for $30 despite a city rule that limits newsstand items to less than $10, , which first reported the story.
Although the fines tech♒nically apply to a woman named Marilyn Kaufman, who is the license holder of the newsstand and subcontracts running it to Topia, the pair have an agreement that Topi🥀a is responsible for paying the penalties.
“They tell me to take the shelves down, I take them down immediately. Iꦚ removed e-cigarettes immediately,” Topia recalled. ⛦;
“I like it here, I have been here for 23 years and I work hard. If they can reduce the fines, I can get my license back and everything will be clear and I will be okay,” he said.
“I want to be independent and make money on my own. I don’t want to depend on nobody. It’s very hard to live in New 🍌York, you know?”
Topia still makes his way to the Upper West Side corner every morning to sell papers to his loyal customers — who are up in arms about his exile.
“He’s working in this freezing weather. It’s ridiculous and it’s just inhumane,” fumed Ann MacDougall, a regular customer.
“I am so angry about this, because our mayor said something liꦅke, ‘Our city is going to be The City of Yes’♐ – and it seems more like ‘The City of No.’
“Sadik is a neighborhood treasure and we have🦄 to keep him,” MacDougall continued.
“What’s happening to this c꧒ountry where good workers get killed like this?” agreed 77-year-old Carol, a loyal customer of Topia’s for 15 years. “He’s the greatest guy and it’s just so unfair w🦹hat’s happening to him.”
Topia’s plight has even caught the attention of city pols including Mayor Eric Adams, who vowed to “look into” Topia’s fines and try to help him get back into his kiosk during a Tuesday news conference,
“You know, he’s a working-class person. It’s hard being out there throughout the weather dealing with this. And if there is something within my powers to get him back in that stand, I’m going to do it. We’re going to follow the law, but we’re going to make the policy,” Adams reportedly said.
City Councilwoman Gale Brewer wrote a letter to DCWP earliꦺer this month requesting that the department lower Topia’s penalties.
“What upsets me the most . . . is that I have 60 to 65 [illegal] smoke shops in my district, and they have no licenses at all and they continue to operate,” she said.
A GoFundMe created on Thursday to “help get [Topia’s] newsstand back” had raised over $300 of its $94,000 goal by Friday.
For DCWP, “protecting the health and wellbeing of our neighbors is paramount and we take tobacco-related community complaints seriously,” said Michael Lanza, a department spokesperson.
