Street Vendors’ Leader Arrested on Issue of Untaxed Cigarettes : Peddlers: Supporters say woman was singled out because she heads their association. Police deny it.

The Salvadoran-born woman who championed legalization of street vending in Los Angeles was arrested Friday as she sold mangoes and allegedly contraband cigarettes on a street corner west of downtown, police said.

The arrest of Dora Alicia Alarcon came a month to the day after the Los Angeles City Council, following an emotional and lengthy debate, approved a compromise plan to legalize and regulate sidewalk vending in specially designated districts.

Alarcon’s supporters expressed anger at her arrest, saying that she was singled out by police who oppose street vending. Police at the Hollywood station said Alarcon was not arrested for sidewalk vending but for selling untaxed cigarettes in violation of state law.

Alarcon, who is president of the ad-hoc Street Vendors Assn., spearheaded the yearlong drive to legalize street vending, speaking at public hearings and lobbying the cause before skeptical City Council members.

The plan, which was opposed by many homeowner and business groups, is scheduled to go before the council later this year for final approval.

Around midday Friday, Alarcon was working at Santa Monica Boulevard and Western Avenue, her traditional spot, along with dozens of other vendors, according to police and the woman’s supporters.

Dale Hickerson, a senior training officer with the LAPD, said Alarcon began to run when a patrol car drove by. Police stopped her and confiscated 437 packs of cigarettes that did not bear a required stamp that proves state taxes have been paid, he said. She was handcuffed and taken into custody.

“We have stopped arresting street vendors,” Hickerson said. “This is someone who (was arrested because she) is cheating the state of California out of tax money.”

Immigrant-rights advocates who also participated in the campaign to legalize street vending did not accept the police explanation.

“We believe she was selected out of the rest of the vendors (because) she is Dora Alicia Alarcon, president of the Street Vendors Assn.,” said Linda Mitchell, spokeswoman for the Coalition for Humane Immigration Rights of Los Angeles.

“We’re outraged she would be picked up over this.”

Niels Frenzen, an attorney with Public Counsel who is representing Alarcon, said four officers picked Alarcon out of a crowd of nine other vendors. He said he doubted that she ran upon seeing the police, as Hickerson stated, because she is familiar with police presence and procedures, having been ticketed for street vending, loitering and other infractions at least a dozen times.

Alarcon, 39, was booked on misdemeanor charges of violating the state Revenue and Tax Code and released about 90 minutes after her arrest, Hickerson said.

The charges carry penalties of up to $1,000 and a year in jail.

The street vending issue has polarized parts of the Los Angeles community. Mostly immigrant vendors, who trade in wares ranging from fruit to clothes, say the informal enterprise is the best way to make a living.

Many homeowner groups and merchants complain that crowding sidewalks with pushcarts and portable stands creates a noisy eyesore that lowers property values and allows unfair competition.

Police have opposed the legalization of street vending. Hickerson said merchants and business owners in the area continue to complain about the growing number of vendors. “Just look at the corner of Santa Monica and Western and you’ll see what the problem is,” he said. “It is wall-to-wall people. You cannot walk on the sidewalk.”