THE BOTTOM LINE - Street vendors deserve a realistic path to legalization. But when City Hall weakens enforcement while licensed businesses continue paying for permits, taxes, insurance and compliance, fairness becomes optional.
Los Angeles has spent years telling small-business owners that rules matter. Get the permit. Pay the fees. Register the business. Carry insurance. Meet health and safety requirements. Pay your taxes. Follow the regulations.
Then Mayor Karen Bass sent a very different message.
Bass has directed the Los Angeles Police Department to stop issuing criminal citations to street vendors, according to her office, which says the administration is also working to dismiss citations it believes were improperly issued. The mayor says she “stands firmly with street vendors” and argues that vending is part of Los Angeles culture and provides a livelihood for thousands of hardworking families.
There is nothing wrong with standing with hardworking street vendors. Los Angeles should. But who is standing with the hardworking business owner who follows every rule City Hall imposes?
That is the question Bass needs to answer.
This debate should not be reduced to immigration politics. A vendor's immigration status should not determine whether that person deserves dignity or an opportunity to earn a living. Nor should immigration politics determine whether basic business, health and safety rules are enforced fairly.
If Los Angeles believes its vending permit system is too expensive, complicated, or bureaucratic, fix it. Reduce unnecessary fees. Simplify applications. Help vendors obtain compliant equipment and permits. Give legitimate operators a realistic pathway into the legal economy.
But there is an enormous difference between making rules easier to follow and weakening the consequences for ignoring them.
One reforms government. The other undermines confidence in it.
Consider the licensed food vendor paying for permits, insurance, business registration, taxes, and commissary costs. Consider the neighborhood restaurant paying rent, utilities, payroll taxes, workers' compensation, and health-permit expenses. Consider the small retailer competing against someone selling similar merchandise without carrying the same regulatory burden.
What exactly is City Hall's message to them?
Thank you for complying, paying, and absorbing every cost we imposed on you now to compete against someone who may not be doing the same?
That is not fairness. It is two different standards.
Los Angeles requires sidewalk vendors to obtain applicable permits and registrations, while food vendors face additional public-health requirements. Those requirements exist for a reason. They establish standards, accountability and basic protections for consumers and legitimate vendors alike.
Bass argues that people should not be saddled with criminal records simply for trying to provide for their families. That concern deserves consideration. California has already significantly decriminalized sidewalk vending, and many local violations are handled through administrative penalties rather than arrest or jail.
Los Angeles therefore has plenty of room for compassionate enforcement without abandoning accountability.
The city can educate vendors, reduce fees, establish reasonable grace periods, and help operators become compliant. Stronger enforcement can be reserved for repeated or serious violations. What City Hall should not do is create the impression that political sympathy determines which rules matter.
Because once government establishes that principle, where does it stop?
Should a restaurant ignore a permit because compliance is expensive? Should a contractor operate without required licensing because supporting a family is difficult? Should a store disregard regulations because following them creates financial hardship?
Government cannot maintain legitimacy if compliance becomes optional depending on who is breaking the rule.
The timing also matters. Los Angeles is preparing for the 2028 Olympic and Paralympic Games, when millions of visitors are expected to come through Southern California. Street vending will undoubtedly be part of that experience, and it should be. Food carts and sidewalk vendors are part of Los Angeles culture.
But the Olympics make competent regulation more important, not less. Los Angeles should spend the next two years bringing more vendors into compliance, ensuring public health and safety standards, and creating a level playing field. A successful vending policy should result in more legal vendors, not less incentive to become legal.
There is also an unavoidable political dimension. Councilmember Nithya Raman, Bass' opponent in the mayoral race, has argued for making it easier for vendors to obtain permits and enter the legal system.
That should be the objective: getting vendors into the legal system, not making it easier to remain outside it.
Los Angeles does not need a political competition over who can promise less enforcement. It needs leadership capable of saying two things at once: street vendors deserve respect and opportunity, and the law still matters.
The larger issue goes far beyond sidewalk vending. Los Angeles already suffers from a crisis of public confidence. Residents see laws inconsistently enforced. Businesses see regulations multiply while accountability appears increasingly selective. Taxpayers are asked to pay more while wondering whether government can enforce the rules already on the books.
That breeds cynicism especially when people who followed the rules begin wondering whether they were foolish for doing so.
Mayor Bass should replace this approach with something better: a serious citywide effort to help unpermitted vendors become permitted quickly, affordably, and legally. Reduce unnecessary bureaucracy. Provide assistance. Create reasonable transition periods. Then enforce the rules consistently.
Because the real question is bigger than street vending.
It is whether Los Angeles still believes the same rules should apply to everyone.
Hardworking street vendors deserve a path to legitimacy. Hardworking, licensed businesses deserve a level playing field. And Angelenos deserve a government capable of providing both.
The answer is not fewer rules for politically favored groups. It is fairer rules enforced fairly for everyone.
(Mihran Kalaydjian is a seasoned public affairs and government relations professional with more than twenty years of experience in legislative affairs, public policy, community relations, and strategic communications. A respected civic leader and education advocate, he has spearheaded numerous academic and community initiatives, shaping dialogue and driving reform in local and regional political forums. His career reflects a steadfast commitment to transparency, accountability, and public service across Los Angeles and beyond.)
