Kids left 'buy' the roadside Risky Qns. hawkers
HIGHWAY HAZARD: A boy sells water at Shore Parkway near the entrance to the Belt Parkway in Howard Beach, Queens, part of a trend of migrant children peddling goods to drivers.
Young migrant children are brazenly hawking water bottles and other goods along some of Queens’ busiest roadways — alone — even occasionally stepping into traffic to make a fast buck.
Shocking photos taken by staffers at Councilwoman Joann Ariola’s office this week and provided to The Post show kids peddling on major thoroughfares in southeast Queens — with adults nowhere in sight.
In one photo, a small boy who looks no older than 5 sells water on a median separating traffic on Woodhaven Boulevard near the Jackie Robinson Parkway in Glendale.
Staffers said the unaccompanied child, who was braving windy, mid-40 temps without a hat or jacket, occasionally walked into the street when traffic slowed to complete sales.
Another photo taken Monday a few miles south shows a different boy wearing a hoodie and standing on grass near the Cross Bay Boulevard entrance to the Belt Parkway — a treacherous strip with a history of pedestrian fatalities and car crashes.
He routinely walked back and forth holding candy while an older female adult — over a block a way — sold the same product.
“Seeing these children out there on the medians, ducking in and out of traffic, is especially concerning,” said Ariola (R-Queens), whose office routinely fields calls about the young peddlers from concerned constituents.
“These kids should be in a classroom, not on the side of Woodhaven Boulevard selling chocolate bars or water,” she added.
The children and moms working the strips in southwest Queens are usually migrants from Ecuador, according to a member of Ariola’s staff who spoke with some of them.
Sherry Algredo, chairwoman of Queens Community Board 9 and a mother of two, said she’s concerned about the migrant kids’ health, noting that they’re unnecessarily sucking in dangerous car emissions and working in all kinds of extreme weather while dodging traffic.
“I realize people get desperate to the point where you will do anything to get some money for food for your kids, but putting your kids in danger is not the proper way to do it,” said Algredo, 55, of Richmond Hill.
She said she’s complained to cops, but the migrants simply return after authorities tell them to leave.
City Hall spokesperson Kayla Mamelak said the Adams administration realizes “the health and safety of all people — especially children — is always a top priority,” so it’s “doubling efforts” to educate migrants about support available to them to ensure “children are supervised and safe.”