They brrr-aved Arctic conditions to make a buck.
Vendors, dog walkers and pedicab drivers battled below-freezing weather Tuesday but said it’s all in a day’s work in the Big Apple.
“It’s January in New York so what else would you expect?” said Duane Jackson, 75, who was peddling hats, scarves and gloves in midtown Manhattan. “On the flip side of it, I could be thinking at least I’m not in Buffalo.”
Jackson kept at it even as temperatures plunged to the low 20s for most of the day – with the wind chill in the single digits. It was 10 degrees in Buffalo by Tuesday evening, though felt like -8.
“I’ve been in this game for about 30 years and I’ve been out here when it’s actually been colder than this,” he said, but admitted Tuesday was still “grueling.”
“Well, I mean, basically, this shows the true grit of a New York City street vendor to be 14 degrees, and you’re out here trying to make a few dollars and provide a service for those people who may have left their gloves in the car, or at home, or their scarf in the hotel room,” he added.
Diony Rodriguez, a 38-year-old pedicab driver in Central Park, said he dealt with the frigid temperatures because he has three kids to feed and a pile of bills to pay.
“Customers come because they might not have another day (in New York) to come. So I’m here for the people that come today,” he said.
“Business has been kind of slow but even with the cold weather. New York City always rises up, no matter what.”
Dog walker Zoey Pearce, 26, was wrangling five dogs, noting the pooches “still have to go.”
“I use hand warmers and feet warmers to stay warm but were honestly not out here for very long so it’s not too bad,” she said.
“I need the money. I’m still in school and unless it’s a hurricane or a blizzard outside, I don’t mind coming out here.”
The temps were cold enough for the city’s Office for Emergency Management to bundle up or risk frostbite or hypothermia.
Lefteris Amasiadis, 21, took that advice to heart, saying he was wearing heavy clothes as he manned his family’s food cart on the corner of 46th Street and Seventh Avenue. Still, he confessed “sometimes it’s not enough.”
“All this week it’s gonna be cold. But everybody needs the money, so that’s why I’m here. It’s a family business, so I have to support it,” he said of the family business that’s been around for 46 years.
While the weather will slightly warm up in the middle of the week, weekend forecasts show temperatures in the teens with the potential for snow.
