Once hounded by police, LA street vendors find new freedom

[applegrove]

Once hounded by police, LA street vendors find new freedom

By Silvia Foster-Frau
March 26, 2023 at 6:00 a.m. EDT

https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2023/03/26/street-vendors-los-angeles/

"SNIP........

LOS ANGELES — Mario Ramos picked this slice of speckled sidewalk to sell his homemade ice cream 12 years ago.

The choice was strategic: The corner is diagonal to a brick-and-mortar piñata shop that dozens of families pass through everyday. He’s wedged between vendors selling toys on one side and clothes on the other in the Piñata District downtown.

“La nieve, la nieve!” he called out on a recent Saturday as potential customers strolled by his 16 vats of ice cream. When a young boy and his mom stop to buy a bubblegum-flavor cone, one of his top sellers, Ramos adorns it with an Oreo cookie and a straw filled with rainbow sprinkles.

In Los Angeles, which has an estimated 10,000 street vendors, many of them undocumented, businessmen like Ramos have been both criminalized and regarded as an integral part of local culture. It’s a profession that dates as far back as the late 1800s — just a few decades after California became a state — when newspapers mentioned the city’s tamaleros, or tamale street vendors.

........SNIP"

[MichMan]

1. How disheartening it must be for a brick & mortar store

To pay rent, taxes, utilities and everything else, only to have someone set up on the sidewalk in front of your store not having any of those expenses.

[BlueWaveNeverEnd]

3. yeah, they point that out. The ones I saw this week, were setting up shop about the time most

restaurants close in OC.

[intheflow]

4. I disagree.

This sounds oddly like people who argue against the government forgiving student loan debt because they had to pay their loans. Or maybe it's more like business strategy remorse? Whatever. Those store owners could operate on a business model that allowed them the same kind of economic freedom via the internet. Meanwhile, this kind of niche very small business entrepreneurship contributes to the community and family-friendly atmosphere that brings people to the brick and motor shops.

[BWdem4life]

6. Apparently it hasn't occurred to you,

but those street vendors are part of the tourism appeal. They bring more customers IN to those brick and mortar stores. It's a mutually beneficial situation.

[BlueWaveNeverEnd]

2. in Orange County, suddenly they are everywhere, but only at night

I saw three within just a few blocks Friday night. the vendors with the big meat cooking setup up...cooking chicken and tacos.

[MichMan]

5. Are those selling food required to pass all Health Department inspections and requirements?

Same as any other food service establishment for where the food is prepared and also when it is served?

I'm all for people starting a food business, but for the safety and health of the public, they need to meet all regulations same as anyone else. That includes people preparing food at home for sale to the public.

Food handlers, restaurant workers and kitchen staff employed in the food service industry need to take an ANAB / ANSI approved food safety certificate course and pass the food handler certification test with a minimum score of 70 percent to obtain a California Food Handlers Card."

Below is a link with the other government regulations

https://www.cdph.ca.gov/Programs/CEH/DFDCS/Pages/FDBHSCodes.aspx