Street Vending in Los Angeles

Street vending in the City of Los Angeles is illegal.  Food Trucks slip through the rules by technically being on right-of-ways or streets.  Sidewalks though, are sacred space and thus the sale of food on sidewalks is punishable by law.  Though sidewalk vending does often go unpunished, if officers decide to take action (and thus enforce the existing law) all food and materials will be disposed of.  A couple of years ago a huge crackdown occurred near Hollywood & Highland where 10+ carts full of food were taken from vendors and dumped.

The super-organization East Los Angeles Community Corporation (ELACC) has been organizing street vendors across the city (Highland Park, Boyle Heights, South LA, Mac Arthur Park) to pressure city hall to legalize their businesses.  Street vending allows easy access, because of low overhead, to a well paying job.

Interestingly, it is possible to receive the permits from the county health department to operate a street cart with food, but the business license which the city permits is bureaucratically bogged down and rendered impossible to get.  The city has an outdated policy and should join many other cities in legalizing street vending.

But why is this on a FOOD JUSTICE blog?  Two reasons.  One, because nothing else has been put up here in a while.  And two, because frequently street vendors make their products with local ingredients and many provide healthy foods.  The most poignant example is a street vendor in East LA who has deliberately used more expensive sunflower seed oil instead of canola oil in her frying pans because she would not want her own children having canola.  Street vendors are great ways to introduce health and food education in diverse neighborhoods.  Especially if some kind of handbook or training were given to educate all vendors who applied for permits about health and local sourcing.  What a great idea!

Read more about ELACC's campaign at their website: http://www.elacc.org/streetvendorcampaign.html