I vehemently disagree with a lot of the crap that is now required of entrepreneurs. I can understand some safety issues but it makes it difficult for pull oneself up by his or her own bootstraps. That said, the age of these entrepreneurs is irrelevant to me. They should be treated as anyone else who wants to run a sidewalk business. Elsewise, every sidewalk entrepreneur will find a kid to front for the business.
As to the cop issue, I think it looks like over-reaction from the Councilman. Why he couldn’t have asked the kids the name of their parents and told them they needed to have those parents contact the city is beyond me. On the other hand, it might have been better to have the cop shut them down. Those kids were probably just sitting ducks for some gang action at the end of the day. Do I sound conflicted? I am. I think I would have asked someone to watch the kids, noticed who picked them up at the end of the day, and discussed it with the adults.
As it turns out, a different gang got to them much earlier in the day.
This was Chappaqua, with median household income at $200K and a 90% white, 6% Asian population.