The Los Angeles City Council moved Tuesday to decriminalize the sale of food and wares on Los Angeles sidewalks, as part of an effort to avoid putting immigrants who earn a living from street vending at risk of being deported under a Trump administration.
The council voted 12-1 to ask the City Attorney’s Office to draft an ordinance that calls for “decriminalizing,” or removing misdemeanor penalties, from a law prohibiting vending activity. Civil penalties such as tickets and fines would be imposed instead.
The revised ordinance language is expected to be brought back to the council in about a week for a vote, according to Councilman Joe Buscaino.
Decriminalizing vending in Los Angeles “was one thing that I know that this council … is trying to fast-track” with Donald Trump now the president, Buscaino said after the vote.
The councilman, who represents the San Pedro and Watts areas, told his colleagues that as a former police officer, he found that “arresting vendors clearly did not work.”
He also said Los Angeles residents have shown that they “don’t agree with this heavy-handed approach, because vendors wouldn’t be out there if they didn’t have customers.”
Councilman Mitch Englander cast the sole dissenting vote on the decriminalization issue.
He said he actually doesn’t have a view on it one way or another.
“I’m not for or against the issue,” he said.
The proposal is tied to the rest of the street vending legalization issue, he explained, so he did not feel it was appropriate to vote on it before “all the rules or regulations were ironed out.”
Without any regulations in place, those civil penalties become just another “cost of doing business,” he said.
Vending will likely remain an entirely prohibited activity for the foreseeable future, despite today’s vote.
The council also asked the City Attorney’s Office to draw up an ordinance to allow permits to be issued for the activity, but is expected to continue debating the details of proposed permitting program.
The plan now on the table, and advanced by most of the council Tuesday, calls for permitting up to two stationary vendors per block in a commercial or industrial area, while allowing some mobile vending in residential areas.
Vendors would also only be allowed to operate if they have a city permit. Also being considered are provisions to require vendors to gain permission from an adjacent property or business owner to operate.
The program would apply citywide, but allow some areas to opt-out if they can argue the activity poses a threat Pinbahis to health or safety. This fits with what many street vending advocates have been asking for, but some expressed concern about the caps on vendors per block.
Others who represent areas that do not welcome street vending tend to push for a system in which communities that want vending can opt-in, leaving the activity illegal elsewhere.
Councilman Curren Price, who co-authored the street vending proposal with Buscaino, said the opt-in or “district” model has been tried unsuccessfully.
“I believe we need to learn from our history and try a different approach this time,” he said.
He described the current proposal “a fair and balanced policy that has taken all sides into consideration.”
“Street vendors are an integral part of our city,” he said. “People know L.A.’s famous bacon wrapped hotdogs, and sometimes there are lines around the block for elote. We’ve been ignoring these businesses for too long. We need to bring the vendors out of the shadows and allow them to be part of a formal economy.”
The proposal drew some compliments today from Jessica Lall, the head of the Central City Association, a downtown business chamber, who called it a “thoughtful vending framework,” that includes “some necessary and smart provisions, like requiring property owner or business owner consent.”
But she added that “there is still more work to be done.”
“A one-size-fits-all program will not be the most effective. We believe there should be a thoughtful and flexible process for a community to weigh in for what’s suits them and what serves their unique needs,” Lall said.
Enforcement of the permitting requirements has also been a common worry, with Buscaino addressed it Tuesday by saying he believes the permitting fees will pay for those costs.
Elise Swanson, president of the San Pedro Chamber of Commerce, said she needed more evidence to back up the promises for enforcement.
“We’d like to see the budget and the staff hired and trained up front before this goes into full effect,” she said.
Staff writer Donna Littlejohn contributed to this story.
Our editors found this article on this site using Google and regenerated it for our readers.
