Can side walks do better than this?

I come from the city of Mumbai and shopping on the streets comes naturally to me! I have never encountered an empty side walk in the streets of mumbai. I have always had to make my way through the street vendors who have always made it clear that 'side walks is ours and we are just letting you pass by it. So be privilidged that you dont have a no entry for pedestrians here!'

In short all I want to say is how ever crooked the roads are, how ever damaged the side walks are, they are always filled with street vendors and these vendors make their living out of it! And I know no better place to shop than the street bazars in India.

But is that the very same case in other parts of the world? Well, its a big NO! I probably was very fortunate to have lived in such a busy and heavily crowded part of the world. Today as I stroll through the streets of Muncie, I dont really see the side walks bordering the streets. Its not very obvious in here! And street vendors...Forget about it! The very few side walks that exist are also extraordinarily dead! They start suddenly and end abruptly? They seem unwanted. And I guess this is true in most part of the world today.

So my big idea is can side walks be a source of revenue? Can they generate something rather than just being there?

Any ideas?