Proposed Vending Law Snagged Again

A proposed Anaheim city ordinance to regulate street vendors hit another snag Tuesday when an ice cream vendor told the City Council that the ordinance’s insurance requirement would “take my family’s livelihood away.”

The council postponed its vote on the ordinance to study vendor Larry Mishler’s complaint that requiring vendors to carry $1 million in liability coverage would put him out of business.

“That’s unreasonable,” said Mishler, adding that he already pays $1,300 a year for $50,000 in liability insurance as mandated by the state.

“You are talking about $6,000, $7,000 (in insurance premiums) for a nickel-and-dime business,” Mishler said.

The city’srisk manager, Tom Vance, told the council that $1 million is not unreasonable. “A lot of people are underinsured,” he said.

To give Vance time to review various premiums, the council postponed its vote until July 22. During Tuesday’s discussion, city officials did not address an issue that came up last week: whether to grant an exemption for catering trucks.

William Sweeney, an attorney for Anaheim-based Orange County Food Service, was back before the council to say that his outlook on the proposed ordinance this week was grimmer after reviewing the firm’s truck stops at 960 businesses.

“We came to the conclusion we’re facing a nightmare,” Sweeney said.

Last week, Sweeney said the law’s provision barring all food trucks from public rights of way would cut off at least 144 of the 960 businesses the firm’s trucks visit daily. Tuesday, Sweeney said he did not know how many stops--and thus how many workers--the ordinance would affect.

In a report to the council, City Atty. Jack White recommended that officials adopt the vending ordinance, which they have now discussed for several months, without granting exemptions to industrial-site catering trucks. White recommended that the law be amended to permit vendors to exceed the limit of 10 minutes per stop when additional time is needed to serve waiting customers.