Officials in Santa Ana, California, are urging the state government to allow more local control over street vending regulations, saying vendors violating safety rules are crowding the city’s sidewalks and posing health risks to residents.
During a March 7 meeting, Santa Ana’s city council voted 5–2 to approve a resolution urging state legislators to amend two state laws: one decriminalized street vending in 2019 and the other made it easier for vendors to obtain health permits starting this year.
Since the legislation took effect, both city and county law enforcement agencies have encountered “a rise in negligent stationary sidewalk food vending operations, including the sale of food deemed unfit for human consumption, the presence of unventilated smoke and open flame … [and] the obstruction of adequate sidewalk space for accessibility and safety purposes,” city officials said in the resolution….