ANAHEIM : Council Eases Law on Street Vendors

The City Council voted Tuesday night to revise the street vendor ordinance to extend operating hours and the length of time that vendors can park in one spot.

The council voted 3 to 2 to approve the ordinance about six months after the vendors requested the revisions in the 3-year-old law that governs how goods can be sold from the back of trucks parked on city streets.

Councilwoman Miriam Kaywood voted against the new rules, calling the vendors “a traffic hazard--they make noise. No one wants them.”

Mayor Fred Hunter, who spearheaded the effort to revise the ordinance, said the old rules were “discriminatory. This vendors’ ordinance has been harassment toward the Chicano-Hispanic community for too long.”

The vendors sued the city for $250,000 last summer, claiming that the original ordinance was restrictive to the point that it violated their civil rights.

The revised plan allows vendors one hour, rather than 30 minutes, to station their vehicles in one spot and lengthens the business day by one hour--to 9 a.m to 9 p.m. from 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. The new ordinance also lowers the insurance requirement for the vendors.

However, the vendors lost their bid to use amplified noise, particularly music, to announce their arrival in a location.