Reaction is mixed on the draft street vending ordinance to be heard by City Council on March 1.
Though some consider it a fair compromise, others feel it doesn’t go far enough, while allowing vendors an unfair advantage over more traditional merchants.
The 28-page strikeout ordinance crafted by District 2 Councilmember Dr. Jennifer Campbell’s office seeks to walk the tightrope between allowing free enterprise for street vendors, as required by SB 946 and honoring some local merchants’ pleas that vending needs to be curbed. Some argue vendors are not weighed down by rent, taxes, and licensing requirements demanded of brick-and-mortar businesses.
Campbell’s chief-of-staff Venus Molina said the draft ordinance was difficult to craft, in part because local government’s hands are tied by SB 946, the state’s Sidewalk Safe Vending Act. That law prohibits cities from restricting street vending for reasons other than public health, safety, and access.
“You can’t make the ordinance too restrictive, completely taking out neighborhoods for instance, because SB 946 frowns on that,” Molina said. “The good thing with this ordinance is it provides for annual review. We can give it a go, and if it doesn’t work, we can bring it back in a year.”
Molina said the draft ordinance coming before City Council “mostly includes parks and beaches,” while concentrating on “over-concentration of vending while protecting public health, safety, and scenic views. Those are the things we have to work with.”
Robert Evans, president of La Jolla Parks and Beaches, Inc. is among those who feel the vending ordinance falls short.
“It doesn’t go far enough in protecting our coastline parks,” he said. “I wanted to see a complete prohibition of vending, so as to best protect the scenic and natural beauty for ‘everyone’ to enjoy.”
Citing Scripps Park as one example, Evans said, “People need the connection with nature, and not be consumed by commercial distractions.”
Evans added he supported SB-946 as written for sidewalk vending and for promoting and creating ways for lower-income/micro-business entrepreneurs to succeed in reasonable areas and economic zones.
“Every California municipality I’ve researched up and down the coast prohibits sidewalk vending at their high-traffic and tourist destination parks and beaches,” Evans said. “All California state parks prohibit sidewalk vending. And all 400-plus federal parks in the National Park System don’t allow sidewalk-type vending.”
Kevin Hastings, Ocean Beach Planning Board vice chair, felt he could live with the new ordinance.
“The vendor ordinance certainly sacrifices neighborhood sanity, but I suppose it’s as much as we can hope for after allowing the situation to go unregulated for so long and become so established in our communities and parks,” Hastings said. “I’m mostly concerned about this desire to enforce it with park rangers and code enforcement, and not police. We need any and all city entities enlisted to enforce these sort of quality-of-life issues when available, including SDPD, parking enforcement, and lifeguards.”
“The City has been trying since 2019 – long overdue – to revise its vendor ordinance,” said Mandy Havlik, a member of the Peninsula Community Planning Board and an announced candidate running for the District 2 seat. “A City Council committee approved a draft ordinance while allowing coastal community leaders very little time to review what the vendor ordinance entails and provide meaningful inputs. The draft and report have not been vetted by any community group yet.”
Speaking for himself, Corey Dylan Bruins, president of Ocean Beach Town Council, said he was “overall mostly content with the ordinance and looked forward to clarifying what the education and enforcement components will look like. We are years overdue for these regulations.”
Bruins said a working group consisting of coastal community leaders from Districts 1 and 2, and other local stakeholders, met recently to discuss Campbell’s Draft Sidewalk Vending Ordinance and wrote a letter with their recommendations in response.
Ann Kerr Bache, past La Jolla Town Council president and trustee, sided with brick-and-mortar businesses on street vending.
“Street vendors should have to pay taxes on a par with the local merchants, otherwise you are taking business away from our local merchants and vendors are able to compete or discount goods since they do not pay any taxes,” she said. “The typical products, T-shirts, hats, sunglasses, beach, and tourist souvenirs are all sold by our local merchants within blocks of Coast Boulevard.
“Locals and fundraising organizations and charities should be given the first choice and an allocation should be held back for occasional use for special projects. We should protect our scenic views and beach environment by not allowing vendors to interfere with the beauty of the Jewel,” she added.
WHERE ARE STREET VENDORS BANNED?
The draft street vending ordinance passed recently by the Economic Development and Intergovernmental Relations Committee, will be heard by City Council on March 1. The new ordinance establishes both permitting and law enforcement processes for street vending, while banning vendors from operating in these parts of the City:
– Sports Arena Boulevard between Hancock Street and East Drive during events and game days.
– Within 500 feet of special events, swap meets, and farmer’s markets
– In Balboa Park, Mission Bay Park, Presidio Park, Belmont Park, and Shoreline Parks in the communities of Ocean Beach, Mission Beach, Pacific Beach, and La Jolla during the City’s annual summer construction moratorium.
– 4th, 5th and 6th streets between Broadway Avenue and Harbor Drive in downtown.
– India Street between Ash Street and West Kalmia Street in Little Italy.
– San Diego Avenue between Twiggs Street and Conde Street in Old Town.
– Several blocks in East Village.
– Streets near the Convention Center during a convention or event.
– 6th Avenue through 14th Street between Market Street, Harbor Drive, and Commercial Street during events and game days.
