Street Vendors Save Lives

, ,

Pomona Adapts Urgency Ordinance Creating New Regulations for Street Vendors

, ,

Photography courtesy of Julian Lucas ©2013

Pomona city council adopted a set of urgency ordinances on Oct. 21 that will create new regulations and restrictions for street vendors to follow in order to continue business within the streets of the city.

The urgency ordinance will create a regulatory mechanism for street vendors “to assure that safety hazards, such as inhibiting the ability of individuals with disabilities and other pedestrians to follow a safe path of travel; public exposure to fire hazards such as open outdoor flames; interference with the performance of police, firefighter, and emergency medical personnel services; and obstacles contributing to congestion for pedestrian, vehicle, and bicycle traffic are mitigated to ensure the public health, safety and welfare of the community.”

The ordinances will be affected immediately. During a 30-day grace period, the city will conduct an outreach program to inform the community about the new regulations. Soon after, a newly formed Division 4 will enforce the new obstruction laws, cite and confiscate the equipment from street vendors.

The new bylaws will also require every street vendor to apply and display a vendor’s permit. If the item for sale is food, they must also complete a food handler’s course through the LA County Department of Public Health and provide a copy of completion.

The Development Service Department will lead the Code Enforcement Division. It will cost the city of Pomona an estimate of $200,000 in overtime pay to ensure street vendors follow the new regulations and it will be appropriated from other city departments like Development Service Code Enforcement, Public Works and the Police Department. 

Community member Greg Estel expressed his gratitude toward the council and the mayor during public comment for setting up oversight over the street vendors in the streets of Pomona.

“We must protect the health of our community, streets, our sidewalks and the future promotion of business by making sure everyone is held to the same standards,” Estel said. “I urge the council to consider implementing this location based ordinance for the benefit of our entire city.”

The new regulations are the result of a report conducted by the Sidewalk Vending subcommittee. After the reports were given to the city council, they directed staff to create an ordinance to address the findings during an Aug. 5 meeting.

Vendors have set up business on the sidewalks of main streets and the city has received a number of complaints from the community reporting restricted sidewalks, walkways, parking lots and streets.

On Oct. 14, 2022, a driver crashed into the curb line and injured 12 people waiting, including one death, while they were waiting for their food or food orders from a vendor.

As a result, the ordinance states the City Planning Division will develop interactive maps that display all sidewalks with restrictions for Sidewalk Vending Districts approved by the city manager.

As a result of the approval of the urgency ordinances, the Business Department of the City of Pomona will create a Sidewalk Vending Program. The new department will be in charge of creating a system to inform the city council of all permits that are allocated, revoked and all the citations that are given.

The program will also be in charge of evaluating all applications and conducting community outreach programs that will provide education on the process of receiving a street vending permit, in Spanish and any other language that is needed.

In a separate ordinance, the city council approved appropriating $16,000 from the general fund in order to cover overtime expenses for public outreach regarding the new restrictions and regulations.

Community member Elinor Crescenzi expressed her concerns about how the regulations will affect the unhoused population setting up tents on sidewalks.

“I was very alarmed by what I saw [on the city council agenda],” Crescenzi said. “I saw an extremely broad policy targeting street vendors, in my mind an aggressive, and inappropriate way, but with very distinct implications for harm against people living in the streets.”

As a result of the concerns Crescenzi and other community members raised, council agreed to redact an item on the list of sidewalk obstructions that could be used against unhoused people.

In a community message board online, Guillermo Gonzalez, who is running for district 4 council, expressed concerns over execution of the newly approved amendments.

“There are several parts of the ordinance that needed work, most of it related to transparency and accountability,” Gonzalez stated. “Given the city’s track record with previous ordinance, I’m not confident they can execute on this ordinance.”

Anthony Solorzano is the freelance writer. He has been pursuing journalism since he realized he hated his job. Anthony loves to tell stories using humor and is passionate about covering his hometown of Pomona. 

Mayor Sandoval Says "Sidewalk Vendors are Going to Co-exist with Our Brick and Mortar Businesses”

Photography & Illustration Julian Lucas Pomona, CA ©2018

Pomona , CA - - For the last 4 months or so, street vendors have been showing up at Pomona City Council meetings addressing the city council, asking them to come up with a solution to legitimize street vending and provide them with a safe space, and for the last 4 months, brick and mortar establishments have also shown up requesting that city council remove the street vendors.

On Monday June 3, 2024, during the city council meeting the group of street vendors were present to address the city council by participating in public comment regarding becoming legitimate and to inquire about a space they spoke about during a meeting with both Mayor Sandoval and council person Victor Preciado. After inquiring about the meeting with a sidewalk entrepreneur who wants to remain nameless did in fact state they had a meeting with both representatives of the council. The sidewalk/street vendors were met with opposition as brick and mortar establishments were also present to push back and requested city council remove the street vendors.

Minerva Hernandez of the Pomona Chamber of Commerce demanded that the Council revive an ordinance dating back to 2018 “which we (chamber of commerce) participated in to help and regulate street vendors.” Hernandez complained that back then, street vendors were everywhere, “all along the downtown area, selling in front of businesses that were already established. “The street vendors took ownership of sidewalks and parking lots of other businesses.” Hernandez reported that she has met with three council members, but nothing has been done. (meeting with 4 would constitute a Brown Act violation.)  Hernandez also mentioned she met with State Senator Rubio who gave advice on revisiting the ordinance.

Monique Robles, president and ceo of the Pomona Chamber of Commerce and the only one of the two staff as stated on the Pomona chamber of commerce’s website, representing brick and mortar businesses, shared the Chamber’s concerns about street vending, mentioning safety issues (she mentioned one fatality related to street vending), sanitary conditions, a lax or non-existent permit and licensing process, lack of accountability and oversight. On the behalf of the local business community, Robles requested that city staff conduct a formal study.

Pomona resident, Greg Estol representing Juanita’s and El Super complained that street vendors are blocking the sidewalk, ruining the landscape, and using the restrooms. Estol asked the city council “when are you going to crack the whip and enforce the law? These people are getting ripped off just like the trash deal and those people are gone, and you will be too.”

Edgard Sanchez, a street vendor, stated he was hurt and ashamed that one group of Hispanics is complaining about another group of Hispanics - targeting people like himself who comes to work selling food on the street. He said that many of them should understand because they arrived here just like us. Sanchez stated he wants to send a message to brick and mortar businesses: “We, the people on the streets selling food are not at fault for what you are going through right now. Times have changed and the economy of the country has also changed. We don’t try to find who is at fault. The only thing we look for is work.”

Another street vendor who spoke said, “We should be supporting each other during these hard times. Maybe the food that the brick and mortar businesses serve is no longer the food the people want to eat. We are bringing food from our country, and maybe they should change because our food is different from theirs.”

After the public had the opportunity to speak, Sandoval stated, “before everyone leaves, I want to say, we are going to co-exist. Sidewalk vendors and brick and mortar businesses are going to co-exist, and we know we can do better, it doesn’t have to be us against them. So all I am saying is we’re going to figure this out, we’re going to figure this out so it works. I’ve been privileged enough to travel to a lot of countries and a lot of big cities and brick and mortar businesses exist alongside sidewalk vendors. All I am saying is we can work together and figure this out. I appreciate the concerns that brick and mortar businesses have because there are costs and I will admit if you have a competitor in front of you with a distinct advantage, we will figure this out.”

Sandoval concluded he was not a part of the meeting that took place with the business community, but stated he is happy to meet with members of the chamber of commerce as he has already met with the sidewalk vendors. “We will figure this out where we can co-exist.”

Yes, in other countries and within the United States sidewalk vendors and brick and mortar businesses co-exist. If you travel just 1000 miles north you’ll end up in Portland, Oregon, where food carts have existed since the 1960s. Now, there are over 500 legal food carts that exist alongside brick and mortar restaurants, including on college campuses. In addition, according to a report by IBIS World Industry from 2023 there were 85,467 Street Vendors businesses in the US, an increase of 19.3% from 2022. In May this year, the World Food Atlas presented to us a look at the best street food around the world. 

It is interesting the amount of separation, or this us vs them that takes place in the city of Pomona. In addition, the lack of understanding that sidewalk vendors put Los Angeles on the map. Historically as mentioned in the history of street vending, chain restaurants such as Carl’s Jr was once a street vendor that sold hot dogs.

The late Anthony Bourdain once said, “Street food, I believe, is the salvation of the human race.” 

We have to ask, what took the mayor of Pomona so long to acknowledge that people who sell food on the streets/sidewalks can co-exist with brick and mortar restaurants? 

Julian Lucas, is a photographer, a purveyor of books, and writer, but mostly a photographer. Don’t ever ask him to take photos of events because he will charge you a lot of money. Julian is also the owner and founder of Mirrored Society Book Shop, publisher of The Pomonan, founder of Book-Store, and founder of PPABF.

A Time for Mourning

Photography Julian Lucas

Text and Photography by Julian Lucas
Published 8:00 a.m. PST

Pomona - Sunday family and friends gather to mourn the loss of Gilberto Cazares Payan, 52. Mr. Payan was picking up dinner at the local taco stand.

Reports explain a motorist was driving east bound on Holt Ave veered into the left lane, jumping onto the curb and driving into a crowded sidewalk into a taco stand at about 7:45 p.m. on Friday resulting in the loss of life of Mr. Payan and injuring 12 other people. The driver evaded the scene, but soon returned to turn themselves in. The driver was arrested and faces charges of suspicion of vehicular manslaughter with gross negligence, and hit-and-run causing death or injury.

Activists, family and friends will speak out at the next Pomona city council meeting in regards to protections for street vendors and the public who patronize them. Join in solidarity and make your voice heard October 17, 2022 at 6 p.m.

A gofundme has been set up after the tragic loss. See the fundraiser here.

Julian Lucas, is fine art photographer, photojournalist, creative strategist, and writer in training. Julian has lived in Chicago, Inglewood, Portland, and the suburbs of Los Angeles County including Pomona.