Street Vendors Achieve Victories in Los Angeles County and City
By Estefanía Lopez Perez, Senior Policy Associate
Yumabeli, a street vendor, shares a public comment at the Kenneth Hall of Administration on January 30th, 2024.
Inside the Kenneth Hall of Administration on January 30, a group of over 50 street vendors sat across the Board of Supervisors to participate in the public hearing on a new sidewalk vending ordinance in unincorporated LA County. In the early morning, they gathered from all across LA County to give public comment on how this long-awaited ordinance would impact their livelihoods.
Among them was Yumabeli, a tamale vendor from Walnut Park, who for months had been accosted by Huntington Park Police Department and the Sherrif at her vending stand. Huntington PD would come around claiming she did not have the necessary permits to operate in Huntington Park, while the Sheriff would imply she was not allowed to be in the area.
Operating out of the unincorporated area of Walnut Park, Yumabeli remained in a legal gray area years after the 2018 passage of SB 946 (the California Safe Sidewalk Vending Act), which decriminalized sidewalk vending all across the state. She was not bound to the city of Huntington Park's permitting requirements, but at the same time was unable to formalize her vending business because there was no sidewalk vending program at the county level. Yumabeli is one of the thousands of vendors who work in the nearly 125 unincorporated areas of LA County. Even though the Los Angeles Board of Supervisors approved a motion to explore a county-wide sidewalk vending program in 2018, it would take years for the ordinance to finally come to fruition. Without a formal pathway to legalize her business, the mother of three continued operating in the informal economy to provide for her family.
Standing in front of the Board of Supervisors and with her street vendor colleagues, all of whom stood up in a show of support, Yumabeli shared her testimony. “We are thankful to the County and the Department of Economic Opportunity. We are happy to advance on the ordinance incorporating the laws we have won, SB 946 and SB 972, which would help a tamale street vendor like me.” Yumabeli also shared her experience and motivation to advocate for the new ordinance, “I provide for myself and my family, and I am continuously harassed by law enforcement. I am not a criminal. I am a single mother. I work and would like the opportunity to legalize my business.”
Shortly after her powerful testimony, the Board of Supervisors voted to approve the sidewalk vending ordinance for unincorporated Los Angeles, finally granting street vendors like Yumabeli the promise of formal recognition for their businesses.
The new law supports individuals in legally operating a sidewalk vending business in the unincorporated areas of Los Angeles County by creating a Sidewalk Vending Program. It is a direct result of vendor and ally advocacy, which resulted in amendments to the ordinance to improve the policy significantly.
The following week, when the board approved the new ordinance in the county, street vendors had another historic win in the city. Just across the street from Kenneth Hall of Administration on February 6, the Los Angeles City Council voted unanimously (15-0) to strike down no vending zones from some of the most populous and busiest corridors in Los Angeles, marking a significant change in the way the city treats street vending.
The LA City Council's decision directly results from a lawsuit filed in 2022 by Hollywood street vendors and the LA Street Vendor Campaign, which says these zones violate SB 946. Our lawsuit is part of a larger effort by the coalition to continue proposing solutions directly to our elected officials on the issue of street vending. While we celebrate this victory, we will move forward with the lawsuit trial date of April 4. We believe that a legal resolution is necessary, and we are committed to it, including refunding and rescinding the hundreds of citations street vendors have been subject to in these zones.
In 2018, street vendors won a historic victory with the passage of SB 946, decriminalizing sidewalk vending statewide. Four years later, street vendors won another victory with the passage of SB 972, which changed the CA Retail Food Code to make it more accessible for food vendors to obtain permits.
SB 946, coupled with SB 972 and the consequential victories in LA City and County, signal a pathway for vendors to operate freely and without fear of law enforcement harassing them, like Yumabeli, who spent years building up her business. Yumabeli and the others who spoke at the Board of Supervisors demonstrated what happens when the community organizes together and demands their fair place in the economy. A collective voice cannot be silenced.