Pushed Too Far : San Fernando Weighs Stiffer Penalties for Pushcart Vendors

To some, the Latino vendors who sell snacks and refreshments on the streets of San Fernando are a familiar and welcome sight, part of the backdrop in a city whose population is 83% Latino.

To others, including some Latinos and many Anglos, those peddling their wares from pushcarts as they would in Mexico or other Latin American countries are looked upon warily. There are worries about whether the carts and the products are sanitary, whether the vendors are licensed, and whether they take revenues from established businesses by undercutting their prices.

Responding to constituents who hold the latter view, the San Fernando City Council, which has a Latino majority, appears ready to crack down on such free-lance capitalism. The council majority must balance the traditions of the city’s growing Latino population against the views of business leaders, many of whom are Anglo.

The vending ordinance, which has preliminary approval and will return for council ratification this month, would make unauthorized vending a misdemeanor subject to a $500 fine and a jail sentence of up to six months. Since 1984, the maximum penalty for unlicensed vending or vending in commercial areas has been a civil fine of up to $50.

Councilman Jose Hernandez, a Cal State Northridge professor of urban studies who said he often buys the vendors’ fruit-flavored Popsicles, said he voted for the measure because it was about the same as the current one, except for its penalties.

Hernandez also said that the stiffer penalties, which he does not support, are unenforceable. “I don’t think we are going to lock those people up. The vendors . . . don’t put graffiti on our walls, they don’t break into our homes, they are not on welfare, they are not drunk drivers.”

He said the council’s Latino majority was reluctant to create tension on the council by objecting. “We haven’t said anything because we didn’t want to alienate the Anglos and because we didn’t think it would be enforced, but Latinos are the majority and the minority cannot dictate to the majority,” Hernandez said. “Eventually, there (will be) a confrontation.”

Councilman James B. Hansen said Latinos as well as Anglos have told him they want street selling controlled.

“Along with abandoned cars and graffiti, this type of activity (left) totally unchecked would mar the image of the city,” Hansen said. “We can’t have a constant line of these people in the neighborhoods.”

San Fernando Mayor Doude Wysbeek said that if the new ordinance is ineffective, he would support a citywide ban on the roving merchants, whose wares include fruit, sandwiches, ice cream, corn on the cob and a frozen fruit treat known as a paleta, which is popular in Mexico.

He said his biggest concern is the health threat of unsanitary carts. “We’re talking about seeing more and more food products, unmarked, unlabeled and people are buying it,” Wysbeek said. “I don’t care if it is Latino people . . . it has to do with health standards.”

San Fernando is not alone in struggling to respond to the growth of street vending, often a first step up the economic ladder for enterprising immigrants.

A report under consideration by the city of Los Angeles, where street vending is a misdemeanor, recommends decriminalization because the tough rules “have not proven to be an effective means of addressing a growing problem” and have placed a drain on police resources.

As in Los Angeles, the push for a crackdown in San Fernando, particularly in the city’s downtown mall, has come largely from merchants. Usually, illegal vendors are urged to leave town and only a dozen or so have been cited each year, city officials said.

On a recent day, Jose Munoz, 23, was selling 50-cent crushed ice drinks known as raspados without a license near Santa Rosa Church in south San Fernando. On Munoz’s cart were a block of ice wrapped in a towel, a scraper, paper cups and four flavors of fruit juice.

Regarding the possible crackdown, he said: “I’m supporting myself honestly. As long as my things are clean, why should they bother me? I don’t have a visa or insurance or anything. This is what I do.”

Staff writer Sebastian Rotella contributed to this story.