On the day Latinos and labor leaders across the country honored civil rights pioneer Cesar Chavez, dozens of street vendors gathered outside the Los Angeles Police Department headquarters Tuesday in protests of increased harassment and lagging legislation that would make street vending legal.
"These folks operate outside the formal economy," said Mike Dennis, a spokesman for the Los Angeles Street Vendor Campaign. "They generate $47 million in potential revenue a year, and they need respect just like any other stakeholders in the community so we're here to advocate for vendors' rights." Dennis said that a lot of verbal police harassment is not tracked, and many vendors are unlawfully threatened with having their goods confiscated.
Protestors carried signs reading "We need legalization now" while chanting "Sí, se puede," the slogan Chavez and the United Farm Workers used to fight for higher wages in the 1960s and 1970s.
Street vending advocates say legalizing the practice would boost small business and allow people to support their families, in addition to bringing in tax dollars thorough various permit fees. Opponents say brick-and-mortar businesses would suffer as a result.
Los Angeles is the only one of the United States' major cities not to allow permits to street vendors. In cities like New York, vendors don't have pay a cent in rent and can move around as they please, though a general street vendor license is required. While it's difficult - if not impossible - to track specific numbers, an estimated 50,000 vendors walk L.A. streets on a given day. About 10,000 sell foods.
The group that met with LAPD Chief Charlie Beck asked for a citywide ban on citations similar to an agreement made with a Rampart Division captain for the MacArthur Park area a few weeks back. The deal stopped law enforcement from confiscate property or giving tickets as long as vendors didn't block sidewalks or businesses and did not sell illegal goods.
A 2014 report from the Chief Legislative Analyst's Office found the LAPD arrested 795 street vendors in 2012 with the highest numbers coming in Rampart, Central, Newton, and Hollywood police division. One year later, the arrest total nearly doubled to 1,235.
"We're not in the business of going after people that are selling food or selling items like that on the street. That is the health department," said LAPD Cmdr. Andrew Smith. Smith added, "We're waiting to see what the city does with respect to making vending legal in certain areas.