Hard Sell : Vendors Hope to Get Anaheim to Amend Street Sales Law

A typical work day for Roberto Murillo used to begin at 5 a.m.

From his home in Los Angeles, he made the trek to the downtown farmers’ market, loaded his pickup with fresh vegetables and fruits and hauled them to Anaheim. From about 9 a.m. until sunset, Murillo cruised through the city’s predominantly Latino neighborhoods, peddling his produce.

But last December, Anaheim code enforcement officials began enforcing a little-known city ordinance that prohibits sales from street vendors in areas with apartment complexes.

Murillo was cited, as was his brother and about 25 other vendors. Banned from apartment areas--the most lucrative for street vendors--Murillo said he had no choice but to stop working. His typical day now, he said, is spent worrying about how to pay for food and clothing for his wife and three children. He sold an old car and a second pickup truck “to pay the rent and eat.”

Discrimination Claimed

The piggy banks, however, have run dry. And the vendors--who say the city is discriminating against Latinos--formed a group, made a list of compromises and plan to present their proposal to the City Council on Tuesday.

“People are very affected by this. Not just us, but the people who rely on us for their fresh vegetables and fruits. Some of them don’t have cars. And our food is cheaper,” Murillo said. “We’re willing to compromise.”

But just as some apartment dwellers miss the daily visits by produce trucks and the jingle of ice cream vans, others welcome the quiet.

“They were over here at all hours of the morning and night. They all had some type of music or horn that they played to attract customers. It’s not only the constant playing of the music that is annoying, but it was not uncommon to see eight, nine vendors at a time within a block of each other all doing the same thing. It sounds like a circus. It’s enough to drive you out of your mind,” said Kris Tenpas, president of the Patrick Henry Neighborhood Council.

The vendors also left behind litter, Tenpas said, when produce bounced off moving trucks and rotted in the sun. And there were the wrappings and paper napkins tossed indiscriminately by neighbors. And there were the flies-- especially during hot summer days--attracted to the mobile open markets.

Residents from neighborhoods such as the Lynne-Jeffrey and the Chevy Chase areas, which are predominantly Latino, have been complaining for years, said John Poole, head of Anaheim’s code enforcement. But in the last 18 months, complaints grew louder as the number of vendors appeared to increase, he said. Last December, the city decided to enforce a 1926 ordinance that forbids vendors in business districts. According to the California Vehicle Code, business districts include areas with apartments.

“The ordinance doesn’t discriminate against anyone. It merely controls the flow of traffic congestion on public streets. It has nothing to do with who does the congestion,” Poole said.

Although the different sides in the issue find little to agree on, they do concur that the vendors and their patrons are predominantly Latino. They also agree that the numbers of vendors has increased, although the true number is not known because the city does not have a breakdown of business licenses for street vendors.

Unemployment Problem

Gilbert G. Gonzalez, professor of comparative culture at UC Irvine, said the apparent increase in street vendors may partly be caused by a surplus of labor.

“I think it’s something partly cultural, but partly also a social consequence of the unemployment problem. It’s an alternate way to make a living,” Gonzalez said. With more people than jobs, people “become inventive and seek means of survival.”

Murillo, for example, was a construction worker who went from project to project. When a friend asked him to help sell produce in Santa Ana, Murillo jumped at a chance for steady work. And when his friend left the area about six years ago, Murillo started a business of his own.

Gonzalez said the vendors add a “back-home” flavor to Latinos accustomed to open-air mercados, where produce, shrimp and other goods are sold from open crates in often noisy, crowded street markets, a common sight in Latin America and Third World countries.

‘They Add Color’

In Santa Ana, home to the county’s largest Latino population, Police Lt. Ken Hall said there are about 200 to 300 vendors (some are not licensed), including many paleteros, vendors who push carts filled with Mexican frozen treats.

“I think that they add color. It’s kind of fun to have them on the street,” Santa Ana Councilman Wilson B. Hart said, recalling similar street scenes as a child in New Jersey. “As long as they are operating within safe standards, I like them.”

In 1983, Santa Ana officials were faced with distraught parents following the deaths of two children, one killed by a vendor’s truck and another by an oncoming van as the child was trying to flag down a vendor. The Santa Ana council adopted regulations that, among other things, banned amplified music on the trucks. The music, which the vendors say is crucial to lure customers, is one of the items that the Anaheim businessmen said they would be willing to compromise on.

Law Change Requested

Anaheim resident Jose Luis Bucio, president of the newly formed Union de Comerciantes Latinos del Sur de California (Union of Southern California Latin Businessmen), said his group of 27 founding members (representing more than 100 vendors in Anaheim) are willing to limit the music, restrict working hours from 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. and police themselves. In exchange, they are requesting that the Anaheim council change the law to allow the vendors into apartment areas.

“The best sales are around Chevy Chase,” Bucio said of the predominantly Latino apartment neighborhood that lies within the larger Patrick Henry neighborhood in north Anaheim. “The (Anglos) won’t buy from you because they’re not used to those types of sales. They go to the big supermarkets.

“Before, there were no rules. Some people sold until 11 p.m.,” Bucio conceded. “It would bother me, too. Eight is a good hour to stop working and go rest.”

Doubts Aired

But the self-policing aspect of the vendors’ proposal does not enthuse Anaheim officials.

“I don’t see how they are going to be able to police it,” said Richard LaRochelle, Anaheim’s senior code enforcement officer. Poole added that many vendors do not belong to the newly organized union.

Bucio, who owns two ice cream trucks, said his group has formed a subcommittee of four members who will attempt to ensure that the rules are followed.

“We know who is working well and who is not. The first opportunity we learn that someone is breaking the rules, we will call together a meeting,” Bucio said. “We have to respect the rules so that the union will be respected.”

When the council reviews the vendors’ request Tuesday, “we don’t know what’s going to happen,” said Bucio, who estimated that he’s lost about $2,000 each month since the city began strict enforcement of the ordinance.

The vendors have complained that they had no warning that they would be cited. Facing a up to a $500 fine and six months in jail, several have court dates set for later this week.

“We have faith and we hope that the council members are humanitarians who will see our plight and see how much we are suffering,” Bucio said.