It’s not just a question of what, but how much and where.
Residents and business owners are asking these questions about a popular part of night life on North Davidson Street — street vendors.
On weekend nights during warm weather months, vendors sell their wares along sidewalks in NoDa to take advantage of the patrons visiting popular gallery crawls.
Some residents and business owners worry the vendors could take their business, and others don’t want to see the carts and tables cluttered with anything but original art.
“There are definitely residents who don’t want to see fake pocketbooks sold on the side of the street,” said Hollis Nixon, the president of the Historic North Davidson Neighborhood Association.
Nixon is hearing it from all sides — business owners, residents, people who visit NoDa because they like the artsy, eclectic vibe. A discussion on Facebook got heated. Neighbors are talking. Monday, they’ll have a chance to air their views and hash out the issues.
“It’s not really fair to them to have street vendors come in and take away business from owners here in NoDa who have rents to pay and salaries to pay, and are a big part of what we are here in NoDa,” said Aman Boyd, the owner of Revolution Restaurant.
“I think we need to put some kind of control and some kind of way that it’s fair for everybody,” he said.
He also would favor limits on what is sold. “It’s a question of what really is art. Are they selling something they really made, or is it turning into a flea market?”
John Kurc has a photography studio on NoDa, but also sells his original photography on the streets. Even though he said vendors seem to hawk only original items, he still favors restrictions.
“No counterfeit goods. It would have to be original art, photography, pottery.. which is what we have had,” said Kurc.
But some of the people who headed down to NoDa on Sunday night for food and drinks didn’t agree.
Detra Bennett showed off her feather earrings that she bought from a street vendor not far from Revolution Restaurant. She likes the variety of things she can find on any given night.
“I think it should be a free for all,” she said, “because that’s what sets NoDa apart from any place in Charlotte.”
“With the economy today, everybody’s trying to make a dollar any way they can,” chimed in Mike Prestano. “As long as they’re licensed and they’re not selling anything illegal, I don’t think there’s anything wrong with it.”
Nixon doesn’t know what rules the neighborhood would hope to adopt. Other cities have guidelines, she said, so she knows it’s possible.
“If we had some simple guidelines that weren’t over the edge, we could preserve some integrity of the street scene,” she said.
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