City Council Asked to Ban Street Vendors : Oxnard: Neighborhood leaders want officials to consider outlawing dozens of peddlers. The threat to health and unfair business competition are cited.

Neighborhood leaders are seeking to push peddlers off the streets of Oxnard, saying that most are unlicensed, pose a health threat and unfairly undercut established businesses.

The Inter-Neighborhood Council Committee has asked the Oxnard City Council to consider outlawing vendors from public roads and sidewalks.

“There is a concern about the quality of the product that is being sold,” said Eleanor Branthoover, chairwoman of the neighborhood council coalition. “The city doesn’t have enough police officers or code inspectors to catch everyone who is operating illegally.”

Dozens of peddlers hit the streets each day in Oxnard, hawking everything from ice cream to tamales to corn on the cob.

They are enthusiastically welcomed in some neighborhoods, keeping alive a longstanding tradition of street sales common in Mexico and other countries south of the border.

“I don’t see anything wrong with these people who are trying to earn an honest living and stay off the welfare rolls,” said Carlos Aguilera, chairman of La Colonia’s Neighborhood Council. “The only people complaining about street vendors are those who don’t buy their products.”

Nevertheless, Branthoover and other neighborhood leaders are asking officials to craft a law patterned after those enacted by other Ventura County cities.

Port Hueneme and Camarillo have adopted ordinances outlawing street vendors. In Thousand Oaks, street peddlers were required to pay a $250 annual fee and carry insurance after merchants complained that the vendors undercut their prices.

And in Moorpark, street vendors are required to pay $50 for a license and $35 for a photo identification card.

In Oxnard, street vendors pay a $393 annual licensing fee and must obey a myriad regulations that include limits on areas and hours of operation.

Oxnard now licenses 28 street vendors. But many more hit the streets without city permission, code enforcement officials say.

And neighborhood leaders say that increasingly, the sidewalk salesmen are hawking more than just frozen fruit bars. Some lug vats of corn or tamales, selling their goods without regard for health laws. Others sell sliced fruit without properly cleaning their hands and knives, neighborhood representatives say.

Neighborhood leaders also say some vendors urinate in public and then fail to wash their hands before continuing their rounds.

“There is a great possibility for spreading disease or infection,” said Rose Zachowski, chairwoman of the Bartolo Square South Neighborhood Council. “I know they are trying to make a buck, but there needs to be some control of these unsanitary conditions.”

Oxnard code enforcement chief Richard McIntosh said residents throughout the city have become increasingly concerned about street vendors as their numbers have swelled in recent years, driven by a wave of peddlers from outside the city and the county.

McIntosh said he would support a ban on street vendors. He said it’s just a matter of time before someone becomes seriously ill from sampling their wares.

“Some of these folks are peddling stuff that, if I put it in my system, would probably put me in an outpatient clinic,” McIntosh said. “I hate to take anything from anybody who makes their livelihood this way, but we don’t have the time or the manpower to sort it all out.”

Upon receiving the request last week from the neighborhood council representatives, council members ordered city staff to review the issue.

But further restrictions on street vendors are not something that should be rushed into and may not even be desirable, City Atty. Gary Gillig said.

“An argument can be made that they are legitimate businesses trying to make a living,” Gillig said. “If they are properly licensed, and if they obey the conditions of their license, at this point in time, there isn’t much we can do.”

Arturo Ortiz--a 53-year-old Pacoima resident who sells fruit, dried pork rinds and warm soda from the back of his pickup in Oxnard--said he feels that the city should continue to allow street sales.

“Where are we supposed to go?” asked Ortiz, an admittedly unlicensed vendor hawking his goods on the roadside last week. “If we had money for a license, would we be selling fruit for a dollar? All we’re trying to do is earn a living.”

But even if street peddlers are outlawed, Ortiz said he will continue to come to Oxnard.

“Where I live, there are too many salesmen,” he said. “Here, the people want to buy what I have to sell.”