Caridad Vasquez is one of thousands of street vendors who set up shop to sell food and merchandise across the city’s parks, sidewalks and outside stadiums. However, for decades, street vending has been prohibited and criminalized in the city of Los Angeles. But that will soon change. The city attorney is currently writing an ordinance for a street vending permit system after the City Council approved the framework in April.
Caridad Vasquez parks her van and sets up a stove and a table on a sidewalk in Boyle Heights every weekend. Throughout the evening, passersby stop to order her handmade quesadillas or hard shell potato tacos, among other Mexican food.
This sight is familiar in Los Angeles. Caridad is one of thousands of street vendors who set up shop to sell food and merchandise across the city’s parks, sidewalks and outside stadiums.
However, for decades, street vending has been prohibited and criminalized in the city of Los Angeles.
"They face the risk of arrest, of a citation, of a fine, in many cases we talked to vendors who had their equipment, their property, confiscated as part of this enforcement," said Doug Smith, attorney at Public Counsel Law Center, a pro bono firm based in Los Angeles.
But that will soon change. The city attorney is currently writing an ordinance for a street vending permit system after the City Council approved the framework in April.
The framework allows two street vendors per block, but still prohibits them from selling within 500 feet of commercial areas like Hollywood Boulevard and Dodger Stadium. The ban in these areas is for "safety reasons, including pedestrian and vendor safety," according to the document.
The council struck down a provision that would have given brick-and-mortar shops veto power over where street vendors operate.
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"In a lot of different communities the sidewalks are very much of a premium," said Kenn Phillips, chief executive of Valley Economic Alliance, a nonprofit based in the San Fernando Valley. "You have riders that are on their bicycle sometimes, especially if the streets are in disrepair, you have the vagrancy issues and you have street vendors.”
Caridad, who has been a street vendor for 15 years, is one of the founders of the Los Angeles Street Vending Campaign. The grassroots campaign started about 9 years ago to push lawmakers to legalize street vending.
"I thought it was a law that would never arrive to this city," Caridad said about street vending legalization. "To work legally is to be recognized and entrepreneur, like any other business."
