Ice Cream Vendors Face Meltdown : Anaheim, Brea, Santa Ana Study Pushcart Crackdowns

Selling ice cream may get tougher in three Orange County cities as Anaheim and Brea consider a ban on pushcarts and Santa Ana plans to crack down on unlicensed vendors.

If Anaheim adopts a proposed ordinance Tuesday, it will become the first in Orange County to ban the pushcarts, commonly called paleteros because they sell paletas, or ice cream bars. Brea this week called for a study to consider a similar ban.

The paleteros who sell the popular ice cream bars in Orange County’s Latino neighborhoods say the bans would be an infringement of their free enterprise rights and would be discriminatory, since most of the sellers and their buyers are Latino.

“I don’t know why these cities make it so hard,” said Dave P. Sarin, owner of Melodee Ice Cream Co. “I don’t see that the community loses anything by making ice cream products available to them during hot summer days.”

Concern Over Safety

Those who don’t like the pushcarts complain that the street sales generate noise, litter and raise safety concerns, particularly if they cause children to dash across busy streets.

The Anaheim Chamber of Commerce recommended this week that the pushcarts be allowed on streets and not sidewalks. But that would create an even more dangerous situation, Anaheim code enforcement supervisor John Poole said.

In Santa Ana, Police Lt. Ken Hall said the majority of the vendors in his city are licensed, but those who are not “cause us the biggest problems.”

Hall said residents have complained of traffic congestion and unsanitary conditions, among other things. “But to say that all pushcarts are a problem, I can’t really say so. I’m sure many are attractive and provide a benefit.”

Although the city had two deaths in 1983 involving ice cream vans, Hall said he could not recall any accidents involving a non-motorized pushcart, but “we’ve had some close calls. I’ve seen some. So that’s a concern of ours.”

In Brea, the council is considering a ban following a request for the city’s first pushcart operation. Earlier this week, the council asked the staff to review the issue and return with a recommendation.

Brea does not have a licensing procedure for pushcart vendors, said Mayor John Sutton, who added that officials will research the subject before making a decision.

“We have to have justification for banning them and allowing the motorized units,” that typically service industrial and commercial sites, Sutton said. “The council is very conscious of our desire to represent everybody fairly, and we’re not jumping into any plan.”

In Anaheim, the proposed ban on pushcarts follows a longer controversy over proposed new regulations of all street vendors. Salvador Sarmiento, an attorney who represents a coalition of street vendors in that city, said both efforts raise the question of discrimination.

“It’s enforced in such a manner that it ends up discriminating against the Latino,” Sarmiento said.

Sarmiento, who filed suit against Anaheim, has thus far been successful in battling the city’s proposed regulations on street vendors. Earlier this week, Anaheim City Atty. Jack L. White acknowledged that a city policy banning the truck vendors from certain districts may violate state law.

But the proposed ordinance’s section banning pushcarts was not challenged in the lawsuit. Sarmiento said his clients are truck vendors and not paleteros. A court challenge of a similar ban in Pomona was defeated last year. Other cities have bans on pushcart vendors, including Glendale.

Proper Permits

In Santa Ana, Deputy City Atty. Luis A. Rodriguez said his office is planning to crack down on vendors without proper permits. The city plans to file criminal complaints, among other options, against violators.

Sarin said it is already tough to work in cities such as Santa Ana and Anaheim. Although his company is based in Santa Ana, he keeps only one or two pushcarts there. In both cities, Sarin said, the wait for a permit runs six to eight weeks, and that’s simply too long.

“A person who comes to work doesn’t want to wait eight weeks to go to work. Our problem is we can’t hold a person for eight weeks, or six weeks, or the 10 weeks that it takes these cities to clear a person,” Sarin said.

In comparison, Westminster gives vendors a temporary permit within two days until a permanent permit is granted after a background check, Sarin said.

Hall, of the Santa Ana police, said the typical wait for a permit is up to 30 days. Rodriguez acknowledged that the wait is often extended when the city has a backlog of applications.