Vote Delayed on Anaheim Vendors Law

The Anaheim City Council postponed a vote on the so-called vendors ordinance Tuesday to give the city attorney and an attorney for local vendors time to negotiate.

The controversial law has been the subject of months of discussion, various drafts and a lawsuit filed in Orange County Superior Court.

City Atty. Jack White last week announced that the city may have been acting against state law in banning vendors from apartment neighborhoods. White presented the council with a new ordinance that would regulate rather than ban the vendors.

Attorney Salvador Sarmiento, who represents the vendors, said Tuesday he would like the city to clear the records of those vendors issued citations since a crackdown began on vendors selling in apartment neighborhoods.

Code Enforcement Supervisor John Poole said his office has issued more than 100 citations involving a variety of violations. Officers investigated areas in response to complaints from residents, Poole said.

Citing a 1926 local law, the city last December began clearing apartment neighborhoods such as Chevy Chase of the vendors, whom some residents accuse of creating noise, litter and traffic.

The issue now is scheduled to resurface before the council on Nov. 4, election day.

Sarmiento said after Tuesday’s council meeting that he felt confident he and the city attorney could hash out most of the disagreements. On the issue of music on the trucks, which is crucial to the vendors’ business, Sarmiento said he will compromise on the loudness but not agree to a ban.

In a letter to the council, Amin David, president of Los Amigos of Orange County, said that “more than feelings were hurt and community conflicts heightened” by the vendors issue. “Direct, real damage was done to various legitimate interests, including the right of business to operate and compete under fair, reasonable constraints applied equally to all similar enterprises throughout Anaheim,” David wrote.

Several vendors went out of business and many lost thousands of dollars each month they were banned from their most lucrative selling spots, the apartment areas, Sarmiento said.