Motivated by concerns about the future of immigration enforcement by the federal government, the Los Angeles City Council has started making moves to protect the street vendors, many of whom are undocumented immigrants. Yesterday, the Council voted to draft up new regulations that will decriminalize the practice, put some rules in place, and maybe even make the first steps toward full legalization.
As it stands now, setting up an unlicensed street cart to sell hot dogs or souvenirs is a crime in Los Angeles, and a vendor who gets in trouble can be hit with a misdemeanor charge. About 30 such charges were filed by police from October 2015 to October 2016.
Last week, President Trump signed an executive order that instructed immigration enforcement agencies to move forward with deportation proceedings against undocumented individuals who are charged with any kind of criminal act, regardless of how minor and even if they haven’t been convicted yet. That could be a major consequence for those who make their living vending, so the Council decided it was time to step in, the L.A. Times reports.
The details still need to be finalized, but the framework of the Council’s proposed system is to hand out a limited number of permits for vendors, similar to the way they handle costumed characters on Hollywood Boulevard. Two stationary vendors would be allowed on each side of each block in commercial and industrial areas.
Mobile vendors would be allowed in commercial and residential areas, in numbers not yet determined. There may also be provisions for individual residential neighborhoods to request fewer vendors in their area. It remains to be seen how much the vendors will pay to get the permits and how much it will cost the city to enforce this new system.
It's likely going to take a while for the final rules to be worked out, so in the meantime, vendors who are out on the streets can still be cited and fined, but no criminal charges will be initiated.
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