Earlier this week the Public Works Committee of the Los Angeles City Council approved a framework for legalizing sidewalk vending.  This is an important and welcome step.   The details of how vending would be regulated remain to be worked out.   At the committee hearing some proposed limiting vendors to 2 per block face and requiring a vendor to get permission from the neighboring property owner.  Such requirements would risk make vendors second class business owners.

If I bought a storefront and proposed to open a retail store, the City would not say, “Sorry, we already have 2 retail stores on that block– we don’t want anymore.”  Nor would the City require me to get the permission of neighboring businesses before opening.   So why should the City require this of a would-be sidewalk vendor?  The City needs more business activity, not less.  Sidewalk vendors are already unfairly stigmatized.  Giving storefront business owners a veto over the right of someone else to set up a business– competing or not– is not good policy.  They may be tempted to veto vending for any number of reasons, or no reason at all.

This conversation will continue, as the Committee’s framework makes its way to the City Council and a draft ordinance is prepared.  One hopes that the City, having finally said “yes” to vending, will not abdicate its authority and allow someone else to say “no.”

Los Angeles gets closer to legalizing sidewalk vending.

You might not know it, but it is illegal to sell things on the sidewalk in Los Angeles.  A decades-old city ordinance makes selling from the sidewalk a misdemeanor.  Yet consumers crave sidewalk goods, whether it’s some sliced fruit to enjoy while waiting for the bus, or a hat embroidered by the vendor herself .  Vendors who serve this demand risk arrest.  Confiscation of property, fines, and jail time are bad enough.  But with a new administration arriving in Washington, DC, and the fact that many vendors are undocumented, vendors will soon also risk deportation.

That is, unless the city takes action to legalize sidewalk vending.  After several years of action by vendor activists and vendors themselves, the city is taking a step toward legalization.  On Monday, December 12, 2016, the city council’s Public Works and Gang Reduction Committee will consider a  framework for legalization of street vending in Los Angeles.  The proposed framework is not perfect, but it is a step in the right direction.  The time has come to take action.

A media advisory is attached.  lasvc-media-advisory-12-12-16

Farmers markets are multifunctional activities, threading together many types of purposes people have. Elderly often fondly recall the days of their youth at local markets and we know that markets decreased over the course of their lives, but we also know the demand for local foods have returned marketplaces to prominence over the last 30 years. We also know that the elderly are often relatively confined and unable to get out to these public spaces. Hernando MS, has increased SNAP participation at their market, but they have also drawn attention for their success in attracting senior citizens to their market. The market in Hernando is organized by the City of Hernando and supervised by Gia Matheny. The market began accepting tokens at a central terminal in 2016 and this increased work load allowed Gia to hire a manager and assistant manager as well, which freed her time for adding more market activities and focusing on other innovative bridge-building in her community. Recognizing the needs of senior citizens in the community she developed a partnership with AARP and United Health Care to incentivize the token program to double SNAP benefits, and from there she has organized a Senior Day on the first Saturday of each month.  Knowing that transportation can be a problem she wrote a successful a grant from an area transportation provider that provides free transportation for seniors on these market days. Senior Day is an important time for seniors to socialize with one another, and this activity contributed to Hernando becoming the first “AARP Senior Friendly Community” in the state of Mississippi. The program success increases the number of seniors coming to each Senior Day, and furthermore, data from the market shows a 70% redemption rate of senior vouchers. Certainly a more comprehensive discussion would describe the organizational activities required to execute this program, yet, the program is a great example.

Last Saturday on my way back from a beautiful botanical garden in San Salvador, El Salvador, I came upon a street lined with a variety of vendors leading up to a cemetery where hundreds of people paid their respects to deceased loved ones on Dia De Los Muertos (Day of the Dead). The ceremonial days, which originated in Mexico dating back to the Aztecs, have spread throughout Latin America with many variations and customs of the celebration depending on the country. Surviving loved ones visit the graves of their departed friends and family to bring gifts and offerings such as flowers, food, and favorite objects amongst others. Various vendors sold flowers, both real and synthetic, jewelry, clothing, art, various foods including pupusas, a cheese and bean filled tortilla-like snack topped with cabbage and hot sauce, grilled corn, and others like fried plantain chips and grilled chicken plates with beans and rice.

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