/ PRESENTED BY: ,~ / JO..£'E HUIZAR . ..8'Ouncilmember, District 14 SECONDED BY: ~~. ~L~/ . . RREN D. PRICE, JR. Councilmember, District 9 t /3-/L./Q3 NOV 0 6 2013 ~ {JF~.13-0qeD . . 1J8. Ot:?//- <f-3 Street vending on the City right-of-way and sidewalk is illegal. In the average year, there are hundreds of tickets written to vendors, and several hundred arrests. Yet thousands of vendors continue to operate in an underground marketplace, selling a wide variety of food and merchandise on the sidewalks of Los Angeles. 1.;F~9N9~ICDEVElOPME~r , UBlk., ~/VURK~ & \;A'~G REDUCTIC MOTION Street vending largely falls within two categories, food street vending and merchandise (non-food) street vending, each with their own complexities. Street vending is permitted in various forms by most other large cities. New York, San Francisco, Houston, Portland and Chicago are among the cities that have established a regulatory system for selling merchandise and/or food on city sidewalks. In Los Angeles, a more comprehensive legal framework is required to effectively address sidewalk vending. An effective regulatory system has the potential to protect health and increase public safety and economic activity. Such a policy should also consider the rights and investments of brick-and-mortar businesses, including opportunities to expand and promote their businesses through street vending and with the overall goal of enhancing economic growth and the viability of neighborhoods. I THEREFORE MOVE, that the CLA, along with Bureau of Street Services and in consultation with other Departments as needed, the City Attorney and the County of Los Angeles, be instructed to prepare and present a report within 90 days with recommendations on possible regulation that could effectively permit and regulate food street vending on City sidewalks and parkways. This report should include the following: the history and status of the Special Sidewalk Vending District program administered by the former Community Development Department; a review of pollclesln other jurisdictions; recommendations to improve public safety; and ways to ensure street food vendors provide safe and healthy food options. I FURTHER MOVE, that the CLA, along with Economic and Workforce Development Department, City Attorney and Bureau of Street Services, and in consultation with other Departments as needed, be instructed to prepare and present a report within 90 days with recommendations on possible regulation of merchandise and non-food street vending in the City of Los Angeles. This report should include the following: information on the number of citations that have been issued over the past year and where the citations were issued; the current regulations on street vending and how the regulations are enforced; potential legal constraints for regulating street vending; and a review of policies in other '. jurisdictions. 'i 2010
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PRESENTED BY: ,~
/
JO..£'E HUIZAR. ..8'Ouncilmember, District 14
SECONDED BY: ~~.
~L~/. . RREN D. PRICE, JR.Councilmember, District 9 t
/3-/L./Q3NOV 0 6 2013
~ {JF~.13-0qeD. . 1J8. Ot:?/ /- <f-3Street vending on the City right-of-way and sidewalk is illegal. In the average year, thereare hundreds of tickets written to vendors, and several hundred arrests. Yet thousands ofvendors continue to operate in an underground marketplace, selling a wide variety of foodand merchandise on the sidewalks of Los Angeles.
Street vending largely falls within two categories, food street vending and merchandise(non-food) street vending, each with their own complexities. Street vending is permitted invarious forms by most other large cities. New York, San Francisco, Houston, Portland andChicago are among the cities that have established a regulatory system for sellingmerchandise and/or food on city sidewalks.
In Los Angeles, a more comprehensive legal framework is required to effectively addresssidewalk vending. An effective regulatory system has the potential to protect health andincrease public safety and economic activity. Such a policy should also consider the rightsand investments of brick-and-mortar businesses, including opportunities to expand andpromote their businesses through street vending and with the overall goal of enhancingeconomic growth and the viability of neighborhoods.
I THEREFORE MOVE, that the CLA, along with Bureau of Street Services and inconsultation with other Departments as needed, the City Attorney and the County of LosAngeles, be instructed to prepare and present a report within 90 days withrecommendations on possible regulation that could effectively permit and regulate foodstreet vending on City sidewalks and parkways. This report should include the following:the history and status of the Special Sidewalk Vending District program administered bythe former Community Development Department; a review of pollclesln other jurisdictions;recommendations to improve public safety; and ways to ensure street food vendorsprovide safe and healthy food options.
I FURTHER MOVE, that the CLA, along with Economic and Workforce DevelopmentDepartment, City Attorney and Bureau of Street Services, and in consultation with otherDepartments as needed, be instructed to prepare and present a report within 90 days withrecommendations on possible regulation of merchandise and non-food street vending inthe City of Los Angeles. This report should include the following: information on thenumber of citations that have been issued over the past year and where the citations wereissued; the current regulations on street vending and how the regulations are enforced;potential legal constraints for regulating street vending; and a review of policies in other '.ju risdictions.
'i 2010
6/17/2014 Council Move to Legalize Street Vending Sparks Opposition in Downtown - Los Angeles Downtown News - For Everything Downtown L.A.! : News
Here are a number of bullet points on illegal sidewalk vending:
1. First Pilot Project: In 1998, McArthur Park was used as a pilot project for sidewalk vending.It was a failure because of a lack of enforcement of illegal vending elsewhere. There was noreason for vendors to obey the rules & locate within the vending district. The City does not andwill not have the capability to enforce sidewalk vending rules. Legitimizing sidewalk vending byestablishing vending districts will only encourage the proliferation of vending throughout the City.The City does not have the resources to effectively enforce a legalized sidewalk vending regimecity wide.
2. Sidewalk Repairs: Sidewalk vending would allow the private commercial use of the sidewalkat a time when the City of Los Angeles is considering making the adjacent property ownerresponsible for sidewalk repair & replacement. Allowing sidewalk vending could prevent the Cityfrom assigning responsibility of sidewalks to property owners.
3. Liability: The City already pays millions of dollars in claims for slip & falls on sidewalks.Allowing private commercial use in the form of sidewalk blending blurs the responsibility forsidewalk slip & falls…how can property owners take responsibility for this when they do notcontrol the use of the sidewalk. Property owners cannot be held responsible for the sidewalkswhen the City permits the private use of these sidewalks for vending without their consent.
4. ADA Compliance: Sidewalks are often narrow & sidewalk vending can put the City at riskfor ADA lawsuits & force pedestrians onto the street creating safety hazards. The City does nothave the capability to enforce sidewalk vendors to comply with ADA .
5. Trash Removal: Sidewalk vending generates trash and unlike BIDS where property ownerspay for trash removal on the public sidewalk there is no mechanism to ensure the payment oftrash removal by sidewalk vendors. The Fashion District has operated a volunteer program fortrash removal generated by mobile vendors for a number of years but with no enforcement, only4 mobile vendors out of more than a hundred pay for this service. Almost all the rest of themobile vendors use BID receptacles at no charge or dump their trash on the street. In addition
most BIDs are paying millions of dollars per year to keep the sidewalks clean through dailysweeping & pressure washing. No sidewalk vendors will contribute to maintain neighborhoodsthrough a BID assessment.
6. Permit Compliance: Normally when the City allows private use of the public sidewalks,permits are required. In the case of sidewalk dining these permits are revocable & are expensive.Even special events using the public sidewalk require permits. This gives the community andneighbors a chance to comment & express their concerns about the use of the sidewalk. How willthe public have input on sidewalk vending in their neighborhood? Will sidewalk vendors need apermit to sell at a particular location?
7. Sales Tax and Property Taxes: Commercial districts are integral to creating greatneighborhoods and the addition of ground floor small businesses have been the key ingredient inthe revitalization of every neighborhood in Los Angeles from downtown to Granada Hills & LincolnHeights. Sidewalk vendors do not pay BID assessments and do not contribute to theseneighborhoods. Bricks & mortar small businesses go through an expensive permitting process andspend a large amount of money providing restrooms and common areas for their customers.Sidewalk vendors have no such requirements & therefore have a competitive advantage overthese neighborhood small businesses. In fact their common area is the public sidewalk which ispaid for by property taxes, the responsibility of property owners and merchants through theirrents not by sidewalk vendors. There is also no mechanism to ensure that sales taxes paid willbenefit the City of Los Angeles. This is especially true when many commissaries are locatedoutside the City of LA.
8. Diminished Quality of Life in Neighborhoods: Mobile vendors who pay one parking ticketa day as their rent already use the sidewalk as their customer space and unfairly compete withneighborhood small businesses. Residents and businesses have no say as to where these mobilevendors locate or their hours of operation. Legitimizing sidewalk vending will continue to erode theviability of neighborhood businesses and will ultimately lead to the deterioration of the quality oflife of its residents.
9. The Fashion District is already overrun with mobile food vendors. This is especially trueon weekends . For example on Saturday March 22, 2014 there were 91 mobile food vendors in thedistrict concentrated in heavy pedestrian blocks. The highest pedestrian blocks had 8-9 mobilevendors per block. As the City has no control over where mobile vendors can set up it would betotally unsafe for pedestrians to be faced with sidewalk vendors taking the same portion ofsidewalk as mobile vendors Mobile vendors use the sidewalk for their customers who order foodfrom the sidewalk. In order to ensure public safety no sidewalk vending should be permittedwhere curb parking is legal to prevent mobile & sidewalk vendors using the same portion ofsidewalk. Otherwise it will be a significant safety hazard for pedestrians. Similarly it will also be asignificant safety hazard to have sidewalk vending at intersections. Finally given the large numberof unregulated mobile food vendors why is it necessary to allow sidewalk vending when anyonecan participate in mobile vending in Los Angeles?
I hope these comments are helpful in drafting your final report.
I want to thank you both for all your input and assistance with this issue. To ensure that Icapture all of your concerns, will you please forward me a list of the issues you have brought tothe table regarding street vending? I will make sure these are included in some format in the CLAreport that moves forward to Council.
Thank you again for your help and let me know if you have any questions.
I am enclosing a link to today’s Los Angeles Times column by David Lazarus about CountyHealth’s inability to properly inspect mobile food vendors and the significant health hazard thathas created (see link below). Adding sidewalk vendors to the large and uncontrollable number ofmobile food vendors will only exasperate this significant health safety issue.
The City cannot rely on County Health to handle the food safety issues created by legalizingsidewalk food vendors.
I hope this issue is addressed in the CLA’s report to Council.
1. CALL TO ORDER: 10:00 AM by LANCC Chair, Terrence Gomes
2. CHAIR’S REPORT: Terrence Gomes
3. INTRODUCTIONS
4. AGENDA AND MINUTES: review and approval
5. PRESENTATIONS
a. Melanie Winter, Jessica Sanchez- Water LA helps homeowners reduce their water bills, manage rainwater onsite, and increase the value of their properties. The Water LA program was funded under a Prop 84 grant from the state Coastal Conservancy, with additional support from the LADWP and many non-profit partners
b. Commissioner Karen Mack, Commissioner Lydia Grant- BONC to discuss the POLICY NUMBER: 2014-2 Neighborhood Council members shall take training as determined by the Department of Neighborhood Empowerment (Department) including but not limited to sexual discrimination, “bullying”, other inappropriate behavior and ADA training.
6. LEGISLATIVE: a. Proposal to send letter to Mayor Garcetti to expand the Water LA program city-wide:
June 5, 2014 Mayor Eric Garcetti 200 N. Spring St. Room 300 Los Angeles, CA 90012 RE: Extending Water LA Program to all of Los Angeles Dear Mayor Garcetti The XXXX Neighborhood Council believes that water is of paramount importance to the City of Los Angeles. We support the Mayor’s goal of cutting imported supplies in half by 2025 and would like to be active participants but believe there may be a lack of consistent guidance, reliable incentives, resources and support. The Water LA program has been providing these tools to Panorama City and Studio City, and we request that your office do what it can to extend the Water LA program to other communities in Los Angeles. Very truly yours, XXXX Neighborhood Council
b. Proposal to permit street vendors to sell food and merchandise (Council File 13-1493) c. Proposal for Neighborhood Councils to submit community impact statement for CF 14-0600
The XXXX Neighborhood Council supports the 2014 Neighborhood Council Budget Advocates’ White Paper and the list of 14 real concerns that are identified, and recommendations provided for solutions to resolving those concerns to improve the City of Los Angeles moving forward.
7. REPORTS a. EmpowerLA- Grayce Liu
i) Funding Program ii) Elections iii) Opportunities
b. Budget Advocates- i) Budget updates
c. Board of Neighborhood Commissioners- Len Shaffer i) Update of BONC actions
d. DWP REPORT- Wilkinson or Humphreville e. ANNOUNCEMENTS AND SPEED ROUND f. ADJOURNMENT
Legalizing Sidewalk Food Vendors Proposed Street Vendor Ordinance CF 13-1493 LA City Councilmen Jose Huizar and Curren Price introduced a motion on November 6, 2013 that would legalize street food in the city. Called the Special Sidewalk Vending District Program, it will be heard by the Economic Development Committee on May 13, 2014 at 1 pm at City Hall Room 1010. What would this policy do? This policy would legalize the sale of food on sidewalks in the City of Los Angeles. It would create a permit system to regulate how vendors can sell food on sidewalks. The policy would also encourage healthy food vending by setting a lower permit fee for sale of nutritious items like fruits and vegetables. Who developed the policy? The policy was developed by the Street Food Work Group of the Los Angeles Food Policy Council, a coalition committed to good food for all in L.A. (www.goodfoodla.org). The working group brought together community-based organizations that work with sidewalk vendors; health and environmental advocates; gourmet and lunch truck operators; and staff from the City and County of Los Angeles. Will legal sidewalk vendors sell nutritious food? Sidewalk vendors, like restaurants, food trucks, and food stores, sell a wide range of snacks, meals, beverages, and groceries. Some sidewalk vendors sell whole or cut fruits; some sell tacos, hot dogs, or other meals; others sell fried snacks or ice-cream. The policy would legalize the sale of all types of foods that comply with current health codes while providing special incentives for vending of fruits, vegetables and healthy snacks and meals. Will food sold by legal sidewalk vendors be safe to eat? Sidewalk vendors have to comply with the State of California’s Retail Food Code, which sets health standards for businesses that sell food to the public. These regulations are enforced by the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health. They regulate what kind carts vendors may use; access to sinks, stoves, hot water, refrigeration and bathrooms; and how vending carts must be stored and cleaned when not in use. This policy would not change these rules. Would legalizing sidewalk vending cost the city money? Because vendors are operating outside the law, they do not pay for permits or pay sales taxes. Legalizing sidewalk vending would raise money from annual permit fees and from sales taxes. Would legal sidewalk vending harm brick-and-mortar businesses and take away jobs? Comparisons made between brick-and-mortar businesses and mobile vendors are often overstated. Street vendors generally sell smaller-ticket items, while stores, because of their high-fixed costs for rent, generally try to sell higher-priced items. With 13% of Angelinos out of a job, creating a permit system would help level the playing field, and increase local purchasing power along business corridors. Los Angeles Street Vendor Campaign wants to develop a system that permits food vending on Los Angeles sidewalks. The campaign is driven by a coalition of organizations from all across the city, who are passionate about creating jobs, bringing healthy food into low-income neighborhoods, and cultivating vibrant and safe streets. The campaign's end goal, is a Los Angeles ordinance that permits food vending. In general, the ordinance will:
• Permit food vending on sidewalks • Incentivize healthy food vending • Create partnerships with small businesses to cultivate vibrant commercials • Foster safer streets by putting more "eyes on the streets" • Create jobs for low-income, unemployed workers
The campaign's driving force is its partners. These organizations represent a cross-section of the city, and are committed to working towards a system that permits food vending on Los Angeles sidewalks:
• East LA Community Corporation • Leadership for Urban Renewal Network (LURN) • Community Financial Resource Center • Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights of Los Angeles • Urban Education Policy Institute • Los Angeles Food Policy Council • Women Organizing Resources Knowledge and Services (WORKS) • California Black Women's Health Project • Asociacion de Loncheros • Public Counsel Law Center • The Public Immigrant Policies Institute of Los Angeles (PIPIL) • Esperanza Community Housing • Los Angeles Alliance for a New Economy (LAANE) • Youth Speak Collective • Kareem Carts • Proyecto Pastoral • Strategic Actions for a Just Economy (SAJE) • St. John's Well Child & Family Center • Little Tokyo Service Center • InnerCity Struggle • Labor Community Strategy Center • Bus Riders Union • Right to the City Alliance • Los Angeles Community Action Network (LA CAN) • Guerrilla Food Not Bombs • Corazon del Pueblo • Koreatown Immigrant Workers Alliance (KIWA) • SEE-LA • Little Tokyo Service Center • Restaurant Opportunities Center - Los Angeles (ROC-LA) • SEIU - United Services Workers West • LA2050 • Los Angeles Metropolitan Churches • Community Coalition • United Food Commercial Workers (UFCW) Local 770 • Alliance for California's for Community Empowerment (ACCE) • Strategic Concepts in Organizing and Policy Education • A New Way of Life Reentry Project • Urban Semillas • Pacoima Beautiful • UNITE HERE Local 11
Our campaign is getting a lot of media attention. Street vending is an issue that resonates with a lot of Los Angeles residents. The following is a selection of media pieces:
KPFK: Street Vending Interview with Public Counsel and ELACC Intersections South LA: South LA Street Vendors Could Soon Go Legit La Opinion: Presionan Por Sus Permisos de Venta Univision: Vendedores Luchan Por Sus Negocios en LAhttps://www.blogger.com/
Canal Estrella: Vendedores Ambulantes Annenberg TV: Street Vendors Push New Law Annenberg Radio: LA Street Vendors Fight for Legalization Los Angeles Times Editorial Board: Legalize LA's Street Vendors KPCC: LA Officials to Review Street Vending: Push for Legalization Could Improve Economy... La Opinion: Proponen regular a vendedores ambulantes en Los Angeles LA Times: LA Council Members Push To End Street Vending Ban Fox LA News: Legalizing Street Vendors Daily News: LA to chew on legalizing street food vendors Daily News (Photos): Street Vendors Gather at City Hall ABC: Councilman seek to legalize Los Angeles street vending KCET: Los Angeles Street Vendors Find Support from City Council Annenberg TV News: Street Vendors Hope to Legalize Vending on City Sidewalks CBS: Councilmembers Call For Legalization, Regulation of Street Vending Operations New America Media: Film Project on LA Street Vendors Brings Community Into the Classroom KCET - Street Vendor Stories' at the Autry National Museum Wall Street Journal Editors' Picks: Street Vendors Neon Tommy: Will Bacon-Wrapped Hot Dogs And Other Street Food At Last Be Legalized in L.A.? KPFK: Anti-Hunger Activists Call for Decriminalization of Food Distribution http://blogs.kcrw.com/whichwayla/2012/11/photos-la-street-vendorsKCRW: Which Way LA? Photos of LA Street Vendors KPCC: "Los Angeles Street Vendors Cooking Up a Challenge to the Sidewalk Ban" NBC 4: "Street Vending Legalization Sought in LA" EGP News: "ELACC Strives to Legalize Food Vending in L.A." Univision 34: "Vendedores Ambulantes Piden Alto a la Persecucion" Univision 34: "Vendedores Ambulantes Piden Alto al Acosa de las Autoridades"
Annenberg News: "Activists Want to Legalize Sidewalk Street Vendors" Telemundo: "Vendedores Exigen Permisos" KPCC: "Immigrant Street Vendors in Los Angeles Want to Legalize Their Businesses" LA Opinion: "Ambulantes Piden Por Sus Derechos" The Front Page Online: "Street Vendors, Your Are Not Welcome"