Street Vending ... What a Difference a Neighborhood Makes

MY TURN--It seems that we can't make any changes in Los Angeles without high drama. There are as many people in favor of expanding street vending as there are against. It just a matter of geography.  

At the risk of over simplification: 

Middle and higher income neighborhoods, primarily Caucasian, either don't want it at all, or if it becomes legal ... want it very highly regulated. 

Middle and lower income neighborhoods, primarily ethnically mixed, want it to be loosely regulated and expanded. 

In 1993 an LA City Council committee approved and forwarded to the full council a controversial ordinance designed to regulate street vending in Los Angeles by creating special zones where the vendors could operate legally.

The measure contained several new features, including a name change and an increase in the number of vending districts. It also instructed city officials to develop a strategy for enforcing the ordinance. 

The proposal for the two-year pilot program was approved 2 to 1, with Public Works Committee members Richard Alarcon and Jackie Goldberg voting for it and Rita Walters against. 

"It may not be a perfect solution, but it's our best effort to a problem that is contentious in our community and is really causing a heightened level of animosity," said Alarcon. 

At that time, there were an estimated 5,000 sidewalk vendors operating illegally, or without business and health code permits, in Los Angeles.  An estimated 10% to 20% of those would be granted permits and allowed to operate in the vending zones.  Apparently MacArthur Park was part of the pilot project and we know how successful that was. 

Fast forward to 2015.  There are now an estimated 20,000 to 50,000 vendors (depending on whose counting) who try to stay one step ahead of the law.  Depending on the geographical area, Police will confiscate the materials and equipment and fine the vendors. 

Street vending and farmer’s markets date back to Greek times. Today most countries in the world have an economic class of vendors selling everything from fruit and vegetables to electronics and pharmaceutical products.  Watching the New York City Street Vendors evade the authorities has become a tourist attraction. 

Myriad organizations have gotten together to either fight to have street vending remain illegal... or to have it loosely regulated. There are groups trying to compromise.  

Terrence Gomes, President of the Los Angeles Neighborhood Council Coalition (LANCC), has had several of these groups make presentations to his members. 

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He had done a tour of some of the higher concentrated street vending areas and commented "I was appalled at the handling of food, especially sea food laying around without ice as well as all kinds of pharmaceutical products that are  legally restricted ... being sold to anyone and in any quantity." 

Gomes mentioned one of the ideas they had heard was similar to the Commercial Trash Pick Up plan which is supposed to be in effect soon.  It is a franchise system where a company has one area of the City and hauls all the trash from that area.  The City sets the rates and if something goes wrong, they know who is responsible. 

He envisions the same with vendors who lease the carts from one company per area.  The leasing company is responsible for the permits, the vendors, maintenance, clean up, health standards etc. 

Now, if someone spills oil on the sidewalk while they are cooking and someone slips and falls...the City is responsible. 

Another group arguing for more regulation is the "Coalition to Save Small Business, which is composed of more than 700 small business owners in coalition with business improvement districts and neighborhood associations.  They have a legitimate concern because they pay for permits, rent, overhead and wages.  They can't compete with street vendors who have none of those costs and are able, in some cases, to sell the same thing at a much lower cost, right in front of their store or restaurant. 

On Wednesday of this week the Daily News ran an opinion piece on this subject from Richard H. Close president and Jay C. Weitzler a member of the board of the Sherman Oaks Homeowners Association. 

Here are some quotes from the Op-Ed. 

"These small businesses invest in our neighborhoods. They make up 99 percent of employer firms in California, and employ one out of every two private workers in California. But small businesses need our support. Half of all small businesses close their doors in the first five years, often leaving vacant storefronts and employees out of work. 

"That is why we are joining more than 700 small businesses and business improvement districts throughout the city in asking the Los Angeles City Council to regulate out-of-control street vending. As leaders of the Sherman Oaks Homeowners Association, we support everyone’s right to make a living — just not at the expense of the small-business owners who serve our neighborhoods. 

"Under Los Angeles’ current ordinance, street vending should only take place in designated vendor districts, which can only be created in commercial areas. The ordinance sets out a process for establishing vending districts and requirements for vendors in those districts. However, no such districts currently exist. 

"Rather than establish these districts, street vendors are asking the council to change the ordinance to allow unlimited city-wide sidewalk vending in residential and commercial areas. If the council allows city-wide sidewalk sales, residents could end up with no say in where street vendors locate, how they dispose of trash or what hours they operate. 

"Brick-and-mortar businesses located in commercial areas are often required to obtain a conditional use permit to operate. Through the conditional use permit process, residents and other businesses have a say in how these brick-and-mortar businesses operate, including their hours of operation, parking restrictions and other potential impacts on the neighborhoods. 

"If the council is going to change the law, it should create a level playing field for all entrepreneurs. It should also require those who sell on sidewalks to obtain permits and community support like every other business in the city." 

On the other side of the spectrum is The Los Angeles Street Vendor Campaign, the initiative to legalize food vending on Los Angeles' city sidewalks. The campaign is driven by a city-wide coalition of organizations who are committed to developing a system that gives micro-entrepreneurs an opportunity to make an honest living, encourages healthy eating, and supports existing small businesses in communities all over Los Angeles. 

The campaign's driving force is its partners. These organizations represent a cross-section of the city, and are committed to working towards a system that permits food vending on Los Angeles sidewalks: Some of their partners include: East LA Community Corporation; Leadership for Urban Renewal Network (LURN); California Black Women's Health Project; the Public Immigrant Policies Institute of Los Angeles (PIPIL); Little Tokyo Service Center; Koreatown Immigrant Workers Alliance (KIWA); Pacoima Beautiful and a dozen other unions, service and philanthropic organizations. 

There is a growing lack of traditional employment opportunities in Boyle Heights and all over the City of Los Angeles, leaving people who are willing and able to work with fewer options. With few prospects for employment, low-income residents are turning to street vending as a way to earn a living. The need to work in this underground economy grows more and more as chronic unemployment and lack of economic opportunities persist. 

Although street vending is a central part of Los Angeles culture and economy, government agencies continue to enforce anti-street vending laws throughout the city. Los Angeles Municipal Code 42.00(b) bans the use of sidewalks for food vending, imposing fines of up to $1,000 and/or 6 months in jail on street vendors, regardless of their compliance with LA County Health Department’s food preparation standards. The current approach to enforcement stretches agencies thin, wastes millions of tax-payer dollars each year, and does little to regulate vending. 

Some of the groups want the Los Angeles City Council to implement a policy that will provide a licensing process for vendors to sell foods without the fear of criminalization. The coalition has already conducted numerous town halls throughout Los Angeles neighborhoods where there is a high concentration of street vendors, in order to begin educating and engaging them on what the City’s first comprehensive vending policy could look like. 

They say, the only way to solve the street vending problem is for agencies, governing bodies and community organizations to work together to legalize street vending in the City and work toward paths of legalization that takes into consideration the needs of the community. The legalization of street vending is a viable bottom-up economic development strategy that will increase entrepreneurship opportunities as well as generate an increase in tax revenue for the city. 

Hector Huerzo, President of ARC , Alliance  of River Communities (Neighborhood Councils) in East Los Angeles, said ARC has not officially taken a stand on the issue , but many of his members  are generally in support of street vending. 

Huerzo’s perspective: "I think in a lot of neighborhoods citywide, street vending has become part of the fabric of those specific communities.  Street vendors, aside from being eyes on the street themselves, bring people out of their homes and apartments around foods and snacks.  

I think that different permitting for food vs non-food vending is a must and that local areas/districts should give input as to the amount of permits allowed and how long before they expire.  

Mobile food vending provides multiple benefits that address the disproportionate lack of access to food in some neighborhoods, and create micro-entrepreneurial opportunities that can lead to the traditional brick and mortar set-ups, as commonly occurs with gourmet food trucks. 

The fact of the matter is that street vendors already exist as part of our local economy and they want to officially come out of a shadow economy and contribute by paying their fair share.  

Food vendors have supply chains just like any other business and they have quality of life ambitions just like any other business owner.  To deny food vendors a way to legally operate is to deny people a way to contribute to the local economy." 

Other ideas have included an "OPT- IN Plan where the City is divided into a certain number or areas and the Council Member and community determine if they want street vending. 

If you check the City Council file 13-1493 you will see that more than a dozen Neighborhood Councils have filed Community Impact Statements.  They breakdown the way I mentioned in the beginning of this article...it depends on your neighborhood! 

This is one of those issues where I certainly don't have a definitive answer.  Street Vending in Los Angeles has as much chance of being eliminated as Donald Trump's immigration solution to deport more than 11 million undocumented people and their families. 

I think both sides have some very good arguments.  So, there has to be a compromise.  A wise woman once said the best compromise is one where neither side is ecstatic and both sides are happy. 

As always ... comments welcome.

 

(Denyse Selesnick is a CityWatch columnist.  She is a former publisher/journalist/international event organizer. Denyse can be reached at: [email protected])

-cw

 

 

CityWatch

Vol 13 Issue 68

Pub: Aug 21, 2015