If you've walked through Maria Hernandez Park in Bushwick, you've seen countless vendors selling food, clothing and more.

Under Proposal 2 on the back of the ballot for New Yorkers this November, the city would give the Department of Sanitation broad powers to remove vendors, issue fines and detain their equipment, in addition to NYPD and Parks police who currently have that authority.

For long-time vendor Sonia Perez, that move would threaten her business, one she has been running and paying taxes on for over 20 years as she waits for her license to be approved, only this year advancing on the waitlist.

"You will see more street vendors struggling and I have always said that if you see a street in a city and you do not see vendors it is a dead city," he said adding "this will give further militarization, further policing and terrorizing of vendors that we feel everyday."

She tells News 12 her cart selling street foods has helped put her kid through college and was a lifeline that she could not have lived without, adding she wants to do it with the proper paperwork.

She's working with advocates The Street Vendor Project, who say an overhaul of the permitting system would help regulate the market, as they say increasing enforcement won't stop people turning to vending, but rather further criminalize a marginal community.

"The system of obtaining permits to vend is almost impossible, for parks its even more difficult they go to the highest bidder, " said The Street Vendor Project Deputy Director Carina Kaufman Guiterrez, adding "we need to think of these as our city's smallest businesses, that pay taxes and want to do it above board in a system that has not been backlogged since the 1970s."

Guiterrez tells News 12 her group advocates for City Council measure that would stop the criminalization of street vendors and create an onramp for permits that meets the demand throughout the areas, but she says that can't happen if three separate agencies are tasked with enforcement.

Vendors say they want to see better enforcement to include for food items.

Mexican-style Ice cream vendor Fidel Cortez tells News 12 he was able to obtain a license as his company also does catering. He believes cooked foods sold by vendors need more safety, but says shutting down all non-compliant vendors is not the answer.

"There has to be a standard of sanitation for the foods they have out there, but at the same time people are trying to provide for their families, afford rent its hard here in New York," he said.

News 12 reached out to the Charter Commission behind the ballot measures including proposition two, who in a statement said the language and policy of the measures were "reflecting the desires they heard from New Yorkers for clean streets."