LOS ANGELES – Aiming to strike a balance between street vendors trying to make a living, public health concerns and bricks-and-mortar retailers who feel disadvantaged, the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors voted Wednesday to spend months gathering feedback about how to regulate sidewalk sales.
Supervisor Hilda Solis recommended the review, prompted by a new state law, Senate Bill 946, the Safe Sidewalk Vending Act.
“Sidewalk vendors and brick-and-mortar businesses are all entrepreneurs that contribute to our local economy,” Solis said. “I am confident that we will identify a path forward that safeguards public health while encouraging all businesses to grow and thrive.”
Supervisor Janice Hahn, who co-authored the motion, said she had been dealing with the issue since her days on the Los Angeles City Council, where her last term ended in 2011.
“For years, we have been trying to find a balance between street vendors who are really just trying to make a living, and the brick-and-mortar businesses that have had to deal with unregulated, unpermitted competition,” Hahn said.
Supervisor Sheila Kuehl said her office had received calls from various city officials wondering just what leeway they have under the new state law to restrict vending. SB 946, which takes effect Jan. 1, seeks to de-criminalize street sellers and prohibits local jurisdictions from regulating where vendors may operate or forcing them to ask permission from nearby brick- and-mortar businesses.
Municipalities need to have a licensing system in place in order to impose their own regulations to ensure health and safety. Restrictions could include limiting hours and setting sanitary standards. L.A. County currently requires licenses for all carts, including those that sell prepackaged goods rather than preparing food.
Barbara Ferrer, who runs the county’s public health agency, said her teams are committed to help vendors comply with current licensing laws.
“We’re not really code enforcement,” Ferrer told the board, though many vendors misunderstand the distinction. Public health wants to “support these entrepreneurs so that what they’re doing is legal and safe,” she said.
When going out to talk to vendors, public health staffers are accompanied by deputies or police officers, which Ferrer said was necessary given some dangerous incidents with unlicensed vendors upset about enforcement.
Several vendors emphasized to the board that they are taxpayers just trying to make a living and are tired of worrying about confrontations with the law.
One woman, speaking through a Spanish-language interpreter, said most of the other vendors in her area were also women proud to support their families.
“We do not want to live in fear,” she said.
Supervisor Kathryn Barger raised concerns about wage theft, saying some vendors in the Antelope Valley were being exploited by operators who provide equipment and mislead vendors about the status of licenses to sell.
Staffers from various departments, including public health, immigrant affairs and workforce development, will gather feedback from vendors, retailers and residents and reach out to other jurisdictions in an effort to identify best practices and policies. A set of recommendations is expected back in May.
Kdcali says
Now its ok but when blacks were doing it we got crucified foh
Alexis says
Street vendors add life and character to cities. they make a city more walkable.
Larry G says
Street vendors are awesome. They need to follow all the health department regulations and have the appropriate permits. If they do that, all is good. If not, they should be shut down and avoided. Recent examples of street vendors who spread Hepatitis should serve as a warning.
Alexis says
Trader Joe’s, Albertson’s, Vons, etc.; customers becoming exposed to Hepatitis. Restaurants, too many to mention, where customers were exposed to Hepatitis. Look up how many people have been sickened by e. coli, and Salmonella in grocery stores. Food stores, and restaurants heavily regulated, and look what good it does. No more regulations! Don’t buy from them, or at any of the grocery stores either. Don’t go to restaurants. Don’t drink the water. Don’t go outside because you might get valley fever. As for me, well, I like risking my life on a daily basis. Living on the edge is exciting.
East Lancaster Resident says
Exposure to Valley Fever is most likely where the desert is being destroyed by solar fields. I live in East Lancaster where the only risks are guns, drugs, and criminals.
Ignacio Perez says
Street venders with those small carts should be illegal. AS well as the people selling food out of their cars. The carts carry all kinds of bacteria and besides that, where the hell are they going to the bathroom??? Also, the majority of them are illegal aliens. If I wanted to sell tamales or an American food type food on the corner, I’d get in trouble because I’m a light complexion latino. Plus, where in the hell would I go to the bathroom??? These people urinate and defecate right there, no washing of hands and no way of getting rid of their bodies foul wastes. No way should any of this kind of selling of food, carts or cars, should be legal.
Laughing says
1970s Bellflower, California, mom gives me money to go get ice cream from a ‘street vendor’. Nice elderly gent of the Caucasian variety. 2010, same mom, here in the AV now visiting her son, sees the street vendor selling corn, insists I get some, vendor is Hispanic.
What I am showing is this is nothing new. Street vendors have been in the US for a very long time. As to bathroom breaks, some people do not need the restroom more than a few times a day, like getting up, before work, after work, before bed. Also there are public restrooms at parks and some gas stations, etc.
Hop down from your high horse. At least the people are working to support themselves and their families.
Igancio Perez says
At the health risk others. Seems your horsey is taller than mine.
Laughing says
Chipotle…. need I say more about health risks. Even brick and mortars can be health risks one store or one chain at a time.
Many street vendors also carry hand sanitizer with them.
Nice guy selling BBQ on 47th East this last Friday.
Vendor says
“Plus, where in the hell would I go to the bathroom???”
If you are vending in front of a business, the preferable place for a bathroom break is behind the business. Be courteous and don’t advertise. If you are vending in a residential area, the nearest front lawn is sufficient. If anyone disagrees with what you are doing, you call them a racist. And one thing about not washing your hands afterward, you would be saving water.
Alexis says
Thousands of people get sick and die shopping at the grocery store. Keep the vendors!
Tim Scott says
If you don’t like ’em, don’t buy from ’em. That seems pretty simple.
Think I’ll go see if the fruit cup guy is out today. He’s the best.
Some Guy says
There is a fruit cup guy? Are you sure its not the guy who hands out fruit cups in the old folks home you live in? His name is Stan.. Remember now? He also gives you a bath on Tuesdays.
Here where i live we just have the ice cream truck and a guy who pushes a cart while honking an annoying horn. I think he sells a corn cob smothered in hot sauce.. i might try one one day..
Alexis says
I’m sorry, but LOL. I needed a laugh.
Some Guy says
We all need a laugh.. sometimes life is a giant bowl of dung.. its nice if we can get get a laugh every now and then :)
Tim Scott says
The fruit cup guy is usually parked at the car wash I go to, which shares a parking lot with the oil change place I go to. It’s on Palmdale Blvd…about…I dunno…28th St East. On the north side. I don’t think his name is Stan, but I recommend him highly.
As to the corn cart guys, I go for the buttered, rolled in grated cheese, and sprinkled with chile powder myself. There used to be a corn cart guy that worked my neighborhood, but I haven’t seen him in a long time.
Latino Millenial says
Lets keep sidewalk vendors off the streets of the AV. I understand they’re trying to make a living, but not in the AV, if street vendors want to make a living like that, take it to Sylmar, and keep it there. NO street Vendors in the AV!
Alexis says
Take it to Sylmar, so it doesn’t affect the A.V. Really? Not in my yard, I don’t care about someone else’s yard.
Laughing says
So, no ice cream trucks either. Or roach coaches with over priced food.
Alexis says
I think a hot dog vendor in front of the courthouse would be a fab idea. Lot’s of money there!
Some Guy says
I hate when people come to America and then act all stuck up and don’t want to see what happens daily in their own country. No poor, no street vendors, no panhandlers, You are now UPPER CLASS and all that is beneath you. Latino Millenial you make me sick.. I wish you get deported and end up pushing a cart selling corn.