Pushing the Issue of Pushcart Vendors

* As a former city employee of Santa Ana and frequent visitor to the area, I read with interest the Jan. 25 editorial.

Although I’m not surprised by your paper’s position, I would recommend that you go to Mexico City if you like the presence of pushcarts and their ambience.

Get a clue, this isn’t Mexico City. Preparation of food products has always been a problem. I doubt that the individuals who purchase the food would do so if they knew of some of the unsanitary conditions in which it is prepared.

The individuals who operate the carts are often taken advantage of due to their questionable residence status and are often without any identification.

I have witnessed some of the preparation of the meat products. I have seen large vats or containers placed in the open air surrounded by flies while its contents simmer to its desired temperature.

The unsuspecting buyers, of course, are not aware of these facts, nor I imagine is The Times. It’s no wonder to me that the majority of cities in Orange County prohibit pushcart vendors. Yet Santa Ana allows them.

Could it be that the city doesn’t want to offend any of the Hispanic voters and is simply afraid to push the issue?

AL ALDECOA

Yorba Linda

* Education of the workers and shoppers along 4th Street and neighboring streets in Santa Ana is the responsibility of the vendors and the civic leaders and citizens (Jan. 6).

In America we have a tradition of caring for public property and of thoughtfulness for the well-being of one’s neighbors, of “leaving a place as clean or cleaner than you found it.”

It would be relatively simple and inexpensive to educate consumers with small signs posted in the windows and on pushcarts with the message in English and Spanish, “Keep our city beautiful, please use the trash can.”

Contrary to what Julian Rivas says, it would be very easy for the vendor to say, “Please remember to use the trash can,” with a smile. It is his business what his customer does with the trash.

Lastly, it is important for schools to continue to teach our children a love of our land and how important it is to keep it clean.

These are positive measures that will engender goodwill as well as educate. The vendors have a right to sell their wares and we must all behave responsibly. We do not need prohibitive laws in place of good citizenship.

PATRICIA RIVARD

Santa Ana