ANAHEIM : Street Vendors Win New Stay on City Ban

A three-judge panel barred the city Friday from enforcing its ban on street vending in residential neighborhoods pending a February court hearing.

The state Court of Appeal decision, which was released without comment, was greeted with joy by the attorney for the approximately 130 vendors who ply their trade in the city, while angering many local homeowners who want street vending banned.

Vendors’ attorney Salvador Sarmiento said that the judges’ order not only allows vendors to sell in residential neighborhoods, it also sets aside until a Feb. 16 hearing a 1988 city ordinance that bans selling in front of schools and street sales between 9 p.m. and 9 a.m.

The City Council, responding to complaints from residents, in August had amended its street vending ordinance to ban peddlers from residential areas.

Deputy City Atty. Anthony Stashik said he has not had time to examine the order and did not know whether Sarmiento’s interpretation is correct. He said it will be several days before the city decides whether or not to appeal the ruling.

The order was signed by Judges David G. Sills, Thomas F. Crosby Jr. and Edward J. Wallin of the 4th District Court of Appeal in Santa Ana.

In filing their appeal, the vendors had argued that the street-sale ban would force them out of business and was therefore unduly harsh, and that only the state can regulate traffic on public streets.

Sarmiento said the stay means that the judges find the vendors’ arguments “are important and agree . . . that the enforcement of the ordinance would do irreparable harm to the economic well-being of the vendors.”

Michael Brown, a local liquor store manager and a member of Neighborhoods Opposed to street Vendors in Anaheim, or NOVA, said he was “outraged” by the judges’ decision.

“I would like to see how those judges would feel if the vending trucks were in their neighborhoods,” Brown said. “But of course . . . the judges are rich and the trucks don’t go to their neighborhoods. But I would like those judges to come down and see how grimy and slimy this neighborhood is and how bad the traffic is.”

The measure that banned vendors from residential neighborhoods was passed 3-2 by the City Council after weeks of acrimonious debate. The homeowners had argued that the vendors were bringing trash, traffic, noise and crime to their neighborhoods, located primarily in the downtown and Disneyland areas.

The vendors, who sell a variety of products ranging from groceries to furniture from their trucks, said that while a small percentage of their colleagues may be unruly, most are small-time entrepreneurs trying to make a living.

The vendors, almost exclusively Latinos, have accused the homeowners of being racists, a charge the residents deny.

Shortly after the ban was enacted, the vendors filed suit in Superior Court against the city, asking the court to temporarily prohibit enforcement of the ordinance. On Oct. 16, Superior Court Judge William F. McDonald refused the vendors’ request for a temporary injunction against the measure.

The city began enforcing the ban Oct. 21, but that was stopped three days later when the state Court of Appeal issued a temporary restraining order against it.

The appellate court extended its order Friday, and it will remain in place until Feb. 16, when the panel has agreed to hear the vendors’ case.