The mom-and-pop street vendors — the paleteros, the eloteros, the ladies selling fruits from rolling carts — all good.
But those other street vendors from outside Santa Ana, who set up big red tents on sidewalks without the needed permits to sell tacos and other hot foods, are bad for the city, according to local officials.
On that, the Santa Ana City Council agreed on Tuesday night. But councilmembers differed on what approach to take next following an influx of unpermitted taco stands in the city.
In a 5-2 vote, the council majority adopted a resolution that urges state legislators to amend two laws relating to street vendors, seeking more local control. The resolution asks legislators to amend the laws to give local jurisdictions “the right of self-determination” to enact their own regulations, including rules to maintain sanitary conditions on city sidewalks.
In the resolution, city officials say they want changes to legislation that decriminalized street vending across California as of January 2019, and to another bill that took effect this year, making it easier for smaller vendors to obtain local health permits by, among other things, revising equipment requirements.
The resolution blames the laws for a rise in street vendors — including those selling “food deemed unfit for human consumption” — and who block sidewalks and hinder people with disabilities from using sidewalks, posing a danger to the public’s health and safety.
“The Bills have eliminated key food health and safety requirements intended to keep food safe for public consumption, such as water requirements and handwashing stations, and prohibit the regulation of where food vendors can be located,” the resolution reads in part.
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Sen. Lena Gonzalez who authored Senate Bill 972, the legislation pertaining to health permits for smaller vendors, said the new law “reduces barriers to obtaining a food-vending permit, promotes greater food safety, and improves public health.”
The law, she said Wednesday, does not affect “a local jurisdiction’s ability to regulate sidewalk vending in response to objective health, safety, and welfare concerns. If a particular location is not suitable for sidewalk vending for safety or accessibility reasons, local jurisdictions continue to have the ability to regulate or prohibit vending in those areas.”
Local health officials can also issue administrative citations, she said.
“We must not go back and undo the progress that has been made to achieve a more inclusive food economy that allows all Californians to thrive and achieve their California Dream,” Gonzalez, D-Long Beach, said in an email.
Sidewalk food vendors are typically low-income and immigrant workers.
Late last year, vendors that Santa Ana officials said were coming in from Los Angeles set up taco stands, also run by immigrant workers, on sidewalks under large red tents but without proper permits. The stationary taco stands, some residents complained, took over large sections of sidewalks, involved open flame heating equipment and left food and grease residue behind. During a six-week period, inspectors from the city and the Orange County Health Care Agency shut down more than 100 of them.
Related: Santa Ana, OC health officials shut down more than 100 sidewalk food vendors
“Food vendors who are run by and owned by large corporations from outside of the city of Santa Ana, who know full well that they are violating the law … who flout the regulations and safety protocols and do not care what happens to our water systems, our trash or the safety of our residents, those are the people we are trying to prevent from working here in the city,” Councilmember Thai Viet Phan told colleagues Tuesday.
“I don’t believe any of us are interested in preventing our typical mom-and-pop sidewalk vendors,” she said.
Councilmember Benjamin Vazquez said the resolution was “blaming” the new state law for the recent influx of unpermitted sidewalk taco vendors in Santa Ana. He unsuccessfully sought to amend the resolution to include an educational component, urging Santa Ana to work with the county to implement the latest law while ensuring local vendors are aware of the permit process.
Vazquez also sought to include street vendors listed in the resolution among those the city is looking to protect.
Johnathan Ryan Hernandez, the lone councilmember who supported Vazquez’s proposed amendments, cautioned against taking any action that could hurt street vendors, which make up an important part of the city’s culture.
“I was fed by street vendors my whole life,” Hernandez said. “When I hear that campana (bell), I’m outside. So is my little girl.”
“In theory, this resolution is accomplishing a lot of what our residents are asking for,” Hernandez said. “We don’t want the large corporations coming here and bringing the red tent and corporatizing and monopolizing and pushing us out. We don’t want that in Santa Ana. But what I don’t want is for this resolution to then be weaponized and to turn against food trucks.”
Vazquez and Hernandez voted against the resolution. In support were Phan, Mayor Valerie Amezcua and Councilmembers Phil Bacerra, Jessie Lopez and David Penaloza.