Storeowners along Steinway Street in Astoria are growing frustrated with illegal street vendors they say are tarnishing the thoroughfare's reputation for quality commerce.

“If you’re a high-end store, then you want to keep the area high-end. The last thing you want is illegal vendors on Steinway,” said David Rizzo, 34, owner of Rizzo’s Pizza on Steinway.

On several occasions, according to Rizzo, vendors have sent children into his pizzeria to sell bottled water to his customers. Rizzo has also witnessed vendors selling Italian ices in front of his store, a no-no given that Rizzo has a stoop-line stand permit that allows him to sell his own homemade Italian ices and gelato beyond his property line.

“It bothers me personally because I see it as a lack of respect for the law,” he said.

Fred Abraham, owner of a Baskin Robbins franchise across the street from Rizzo’s Pizza, has experienced similar problems. He said during warm weather months an ice-cream truck remains parked in front of his store for hours at a time, selling frozen treats to pedestrians walking by.

In the winter, the ice-cream truck is nowhere to be seen. “We pay taxes and rent that are sky high,” Abraham said. “We’re here [during] good weather and bad weather. We stick it out. They come and go.”

Ice cream trucks and other mobile vendors are forced to abide by the same laws as street vendors who remain stationary. In fact, Steinway Street, under city law, is designated as a “no-vend zone”- most of the time.

According to Streetvendor.org, an organization dedicated to preserving the rights of street vendors in New York, food vendors are prohibited on Steinway Street between 25th Avenue and Broadway, Monday through Saturday, from the hours of 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.

Any person caught vending during the prohibited hours faces a hefty $1,000 fine, which could be issued by either a police officer or a Health Department inspector.

According to Sean Basinsky of Streetvendor.org, the primary cause of illegal vendors is the shortage in licenses issued.

“It’s nearly impossible to get a vendor’s license,” said Basinsky, who said the wait for a vendors license could be up to fifteen years, an obstacle that opens the door to illegal vending.

“I can sympathize with them, I lived it” said Franky Englezos, a licensed food vendor who regularly sets up shop at the corner of Steinway Street and 31st Avenue. Englezos, a lifetime Astoria resident, recognizes the pressure of having a family to feed and the difficulty of obtaining a vending license.

“It’s definitely annoying, but I’d rather them make a buck than hold up a store,” said Englezos, “I’m not going to chase them away, that’s the police’s job.”

Aside from the vendors, another primary cause of distress for many Steinway business owners, including Larry Lakhati, owner of Yogi Lala Jewelers on Steinway, is the absence of law enforcement.

“I spoke with the police, and they seemed uninformed on the issue,” said Lakhati, who has been doing business on Steinway since 1978. He said people selling bottled water from a cooler and ice cream trucks are just the tip of the iceberg.

“Just last week we had a palm reader,” said Lakhati, who keeps a large black binder behind his counter full of incident reports involving illegal vendors.

An involved member of the Steinway Business Improvement District (BID), Lakhati says the private security firm paid for by the BID is aware of the issue but has limited authority.

“I need to approach [vendors] several times,” said John Gray, a Steinway Street security officer with Epic Security. If vendors refuse to move off Steinway after being asked politely, Gray said he is obliged to call the police. The problem according to storeowners like Rizzo, Abraham, and Lakhati is a lackluster response from the police.

Gray, who has been on Steinway Street patrol for over nine months, said he has placed more than 50 combined phone calls to the 114th Precinct, 311, the Building Department, and the Sanitation Department - all of which have failed to significantly address the issue.

Storeowners feel one solution would be to increase police presence and more firmly enforce existing laws.

But others, like Basinsky, said if the vendors were licensed, they would be much easier to control.

“Vendors must pay all fines before they can renew they’re licenses,” said Basinsky. “If you want to make the situation better for everybody, issue more licenses.”

Geroge Stamatiades, president of the Central Astoria Local Development Corporation, said the city owes it to the area's small businesses to keep illegal vendors off of Steinway Street.

“In these difficult times, the small businesses that pay their taxes and support the community deserve all of the protection and help we can give them,” he said.