Jersey City street peddlers now have to hawk their wares outside the city's four specially designated business districts.

An ordinance passed unanimously last week by the City Council pushes the peddlers out of the Journal Square, Central Avenue, Historic Downtown and McGinley Square special improvement districts.

The goal of the law is to keep the peddlers from competing with businesses that have to pay rent, and, in many cases, sell the same items.

"It's (the law) been a long time in coming," said Don Smartt, district administrator of the Journal Square Restoration Corp. that runs the Journal Square Special Improvement District. "It would mean a cleaner, safer district."

The new law allows for physically handicapped persons who have been issued a special vehicle identification card by the Division of Commerce to continue to operate.