California Today: A Push to Legalize Sidewalk Vending in Los Angeles
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Sidewalk vendors operate legally in the biggest cities across the United States with one notable exception: Los Angeles.
For decades, efforts to add a permit system for the city’s $500 million underground vending economy have faltered. Proponents say that’s because the city lacked a crucial ingredient: political will.
But a new bid has an unlikely motivator: President-elect Donald J. Trump’s plan to deport immigrants in the country illegally.
“It seems to have lit a fire under some of the City Council members,” said Mark Vallianatos, who teaches urban and environmental policy at Occidental College.
According to government estimates, there are roughly 50,000 sidewalk vendors in Los Angeles, plying wares like T-shirts, phone chargers, bacon-wrapped hot dogs and tamales.
Most are immigrants and an unknown share are undocumented, researchers say.
While anti-vending laws are seldom imposed, violations can result in misdemeanor charges. City Council members have said decriminalizing the work has become a pressing matter given the statements from Mr. Trump, who has vowed to deport unauthorized immigrants with criminal records.
A new proposal would create a permit system for the vendors, regulate where they can set up their carts and require them to abide by health codes long enforced at their brick-and-mortar counterparts.
The plan was advanced by a City Council committee on Monday. It is set to go before the full Council early next year.
Parts of the proposal have pleased business owners who have traditionally been wary about what legalized sidewalk vending would mean for them. Notably, it calls for a limit of two vendors per block.
But some are also skeptical such a rule would be enforced.
Norm Langer, the owner of Langer’s Delicatessen in the Westlake neighborhood, said he had complained to the city repeatedly about a rambling colony of illegal vendors outside his restaurant. The police responded, he said, “Never, never, never.”
“All of this is fine and good if you’ve got enforcement,” he added. “I have no confidence that will happen.”
Both sides in the debate acknowledge that the system now is broken.
Mr. Vallianatos said the moment appeared ripe to fix it. He cited the political power of the city’s rising Latino population, a growing embrace of urban walkable spaces, and, of course, Mr. Trump.
“To me it’s kind of embarrassing,” Mr. Vallianatos said. “To have us be the standout in the country with no possibility for legal vending is a betrayal.”
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And Finally ...
We’re trying something new: reader photos.
From time to time, we’ll publish your images of beautiful or interesting places in California.
To start things off, Carl Larson, an amateur photographer in Los Angeles, shared this image of a burst of color over the city’s skyline. To create the panorama, he captured five side-by-side images, then stitched them together using editing software.
Mr. Larson said he hiked a trail behind Griffith Observatory, the domed structure to the left, to take pictures of the sunset on Nov. 7.
“It was a little smoggy out and low-lying clouds and the sky just absolutely lit up,” he said.
Opened in 1935, Griffith Observatory is a public institution that offers free admission six days a week, from Tuesday to Sunday.
Visitors can peer into space through Zeiss telescopes, or attend regular public programs.
And if the cosmos weren’t enough, the observatory’s perch on the southern slope of Mount Hollywood also has one of the best views of Los Angeles.
Stay tuned for instructions on how you can submit a photo for possible publication.
We’re still accepting your nominations for “Californian of the Year” atCAtoday@nytimes.com.
California Today goes live at 6 a.m. Pacific time weekdays.
The California Today columnist, Mike McPhate, is a third-generation Californian — born outside Sacramento and raised in San Juan Capistrano. He lives in Davis. Follow him on Twitter.
California Today is edited by Julie Bloom, who grew up in Los Angeles and attended U.C. Berkeley.
P.C: http://www.nytimes.com/2016/12/13/us/california-today-sidewalk-vendors-los-angeles.html?_r=0
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