L.A. City Council to Regulate Street Vending

The Los Angeles City Council voted Tuesday to decriminalize and regulate street vendors. The proposal, passed on an 11-2 vote, authorized a draft of law to legalize street vending and gives the Board of Public Works the responsibility of issuing licenses to vendors. The proposal would allow stationery sidewalk vendors provided they have the consent of adjacent business or property owners. The Coalition to Save Small Business, which represents more than 1,300 small businesses and restaurants across Los Angeles, applauded the decision. “We support the City Council’s vote to decriminalize sidewalk vending, and we appreciate the work the councilmembers and city staff are doing to develop a new sidewalk vending program that will work,” the coalition said in a statement. Jessica Lall, chief executive of the Central City Association in Los Angeles, said in a statement her organization also supports decriminalization. “One size won’t fit all in a city that spans 500 square miles,” Lall said in the statement. “We have been studying other cities’ sidewalk vending regulations and appreciate the councilmembers’ interest in reviewing successful programs in other cities. We look forward to working with the Council and city staff to ensure any new sidewalk vending regulations are fair, reasonable and take into account the wide variety of neighborhoods and business districts in Los Angeles.”