If people buy a Peddler's License in Chicago, they are banned from selling on the streets in huge sections of the city. The most lucrative areas of the city, having the most tourists and heaviest foot traffic, are banned including: all of downtown / the Central District, the Magnificent Mile shopping district, Millennium Park, public areas and streets near all of the sports arenas, the entire neighborhoods of the 47th and 50th Wards and more. People trying to earn money legally by selling items like t-shirts, water, ice cream, souvenirs, art, etc. should not be criminalized by geographic restrictions.

See an illustration of the banned areas on this map:
http://shellielewis.wordpress.com/2013/07/10/why-no-artists-vend-work-in-public-here-in-chicago/

I have a permit [7/12/2013 through 9/1/2013] for one part of a street corner in the banned Central District downtown with a Speech Peddler's Permit and am taking signatures in person as a political action:
http://shellielewis.wordpress.com/2013/07/14/beyond-the-impossible/

The Peddler's License is currently $100 for two years; the fine for selling in a banned area can be $200 per occurrence. If you visit downtown Chicago, the streets are filled with panhandlers begging who could have an alternative to start a micro-business or be hired by one if the location restrictions on peddling were lifted. The Municipal Code for Chicago's Peddlers and Street Performers can be read in its entirety here:

http://www.amlegal.com/nxt/gateway.dll/Illinois/chicago_il/title4businessesoccupationsandconsumerpr/chapter4-244streetpeddlersandstreetperfo?f=templates$fn=document-frame.htm$3.0#JD_4-244-141

Please forward this petition to other people.  Help make commerce available to the smallest enterprises, the poor, artists, authors and anyone who wishes to have economic access to public space. Thank you.