The NYPD arrested two military veterans after they refused to move their foodcarts from outside the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the city's most lucrative location for street vendors.
The New York Times reports Armando Crescenzi and Howard Dalton, both of whom served in the Army, cite a vague nineteenth century New York state law that allows disabled veterans to sell in some parts of the city where others have to pay.
The pushcarts were towed away yet Crescenzi and Dalton vow to come back the hot dog hot spot, saying they'll sue the city to recognize their right to sell there.
The Parks department previously leased the space outside the Met for upwards of $642,000 a year.
Vendors who are military veterans have been crowding the spot without giving the city any money for a few years now, frustrating officials.
in 2009, Dan Rossi, a 69-year-old veteran, was charged with obstructing traffic and disorderly conduct after he refused to relocate his stand. He told The New York Post at the time, "Veterans Day is over. They've stopped waving their flags and now it's back to screwing the vet. If this were a law, they'd have been nailing us for it every day before this. They made this up this morning. This is the first time in 30 years I'm going to get towed."