Street Vendor Arrests Up Despite Legalization

After years of struggle, thousands of street vendors were jubilant in January when the City Council legalized sidewalk vending in designated districts throughout Los Angeles.

But almost five months after passage of a law viewed as a seminal victory for Los Angeles’ Latino immigrant population, city officials have not issued a single vendor’s permit. And vendors are being arrested more frequently than before the law was passed.

The legalization process has become mired in implementation details, including the mandated creation of eight new business districts where vending will be allowed for a two-year test period.

With issuance of the first permits still months away, a delegation of three dozen of the city’s estimated 5,000 street vendors gathered Tuesday outside Parker Center to protest what they characterize as a mean-spirited police crackdown violating the spirit of January’s historic City Council action.

“We’re just asking to be allowed to make a living, support our families and pay our bills,” said Leobardo Cabral, president of the Street Vendors Assn., which represents more than 800 entrepreneurs, most of them immigrants from Mexico and Central America. “Why should they be arresting us?”

Police deny any harassment or crackdown, although authorities acknowledge that tickets issued to illegal vendors are up substantially compared with last year. Police issued 839 citations to vendors between Jan. 1 and May 23, compared to 952 such actions during all of last year, said Commander Scott LaChasse, who coordinates the police street vendor program. Violators could face up to six months in jail and $1,000 fines for the misdemeanor violations, although most fines are $20 to $250.

According to LaChasse, the increasing number of sidewalk merchants and heightened public awareness of the problem have led to more complaints from store owners, who often resent the competition and clutter associated with street hawkers. Officers seldom target the vendors without complaints, he said.

“The public is more acutely aware, and we respond to public complaints, and that has resulted in an increase in enforcement,” LaChasse said.

Such arguments, however, do not mollify street vendors, who say they are convinced that the police have targeted them in an effort to short-circuit the new law.

“The police don’t want us to get our permits,” said Virgilia Yescas, a 40-year-old mother of five from Mexico who sells homemade tamales and the hot chocolate drink known as champurrado near the corner of Normandie Avenue and Pico Boulevard.

The police crackdown, vendors say, has sliced many vendors’ hours, reducing weekly earnings from $300 to $100 or less. Some express fears that they will be unable to afford the needed permits, insurance and business licenses once the legal vending program is in effect.