Anaheim Vendors Win Temporary OK to Sell in Areas of City’s Ban

A group of street vendors filed a lawsuit against the City of Anaheim Wednesday and won a temporary restraining order that allows the vendors--until the next court hearing--to sell their goods in areas where the city had banned them.

In their suit, the vendors say the wording of a 1926 ordinance on which the city is basing its ban is vague and ambiguous. City officials cited the 60-year-old ordinance when they began a crackdown last December on street vending in apartment areas such as the Chevy Chase neighborhood.

The ordinance forbids vendors in business districts but does not define a business district. The city uses the California Vehicle Code interpretation of business districts, and that definition includes areas with apartments.

‘We Think It’s Valid’

Salvador Sarmiento, an attorney for the vendors, said the statute “leaves it up to whoever is enforcing (the law) to define what it means.” And that leaves room for “arbitrary and capricious” enforcement, he continued.

Deputy City Atty. Lou Ann Merritt said the ordinance is not vague. “We think that it’s a valid ordinance, and we intend to continue enforcing it,” Merritt said.

Sarmiento said Anaheim officials have discriminated against Latino vendors by using the city’s interpretation of the meaning of the term business district to run them out of Latino neighborhoods.

Because Orange County Superior Court Commissioner Eleanor M. Palk granted the vendors’ request for a temporary restraining order, those mentioned in the lawsuit will not be stopped from hawking their goods for the next few weeks, Merritt said.

Until Oct. 14, when the two sides will gather in court for another hearing, the 27 members of the Union de Comerciantes Latinos del Sur de California (Union of Southern California Merchants) will be allowed to continue doing business. But those who do not belong to the union will be cited by Anaheim code enforcement officers, she said.

The city began using the 1926 ordinance to order street vendors out of apartment areas last December at the request of residents who complained of congested streets, noise and litter. Since the crackdown, the neighborhoods are quieter and cleaner, residents and city officials have said.

More Restrictive Law Studied

But the ban on doing business in their most lucrative selling spots has forced many vendors out of business, Sarmiento said. Those who are still selling want to go back to the apartment areas, predominantly Latino neighborhoods where many of the residents are used to buying their produce and other food from the street trucks.

Meanwhile, the Anaheim City Council has looked at various drafts of a new, more restrictive law regulating street vendors. But the council has postponed a decision on adopting it numerous times, mostly at the request of the Chamber of Commerce and the Anaheim-based Orange County Food Service, which serves industrial sites.

The chamber became involved in the issue only in recent months. At least one Anaheim Latino activist, Amin David of Los Amigos of Orange County, has criticized the council’s response to the concerns of the catering firm.