SANTA ANA : City Passes Total Ban on Selling From Cars

The City Council unanimously approved an ordinance Monday that makes it illegal for vendors to sell merchandise from the insides of motor vehicles any time of the year.

Previously, it had been legal for licensed vendors to sell out of cars and trucks for the Thanksgiving-Christmas season.

“It’s a cleanup measure,” said Robyn Uptegraff, executive director of the city’s planning and building agency. “From an enforcement standpoint, having it be illegal for 11 months out of the year tends to confuse the issue. We felt that a total ban would be much easier to understand.”

Uptegraff said a majority of the vendors, who typically sell from trucks and cars along major streets, have been operating without business licenses, which the city requires.

“In general, that type of vending has led to community disorder and litter and trash,” Uptegraff said. “They also competed with those businesses that were more traditional and paying overhead.”

The council also gave final approval to an ordinance that would fine or jail residents and landlords if homes are overcrowded. Latino community leaders opposed the measure, which establishes square-footage requirements for living space, when it received preliminary approval by the council last month. Council members rejected claims that large numbers of low- and moderate-income families would be displaced because they could not afford larger living quarters.

Both ordinances will go into effect in 30 days.