Los Angeles street vendors lawsuit advances
Street vendors in downtown Los Angeles scored a victory in court on Thursday after a judge allowed the group to move forward in a with a legal challenge against the city's "no vending zones" in popular areas.
Los Angeles Superior Court Judge James C. Chalfant finalized a tentative ruling he issued Wednesday, overruling the city's first legal challenge to the petition brought Dec. 7 by three community groups, Community Power Collective, East Los Angeles Community Corp. and Inclusive Action for the City and two sidewalk vendors, Merlin Alvarado and Ruth Monroy.
The petition challenges the city's "no-vending zones" ordinance that prohibits sidewalk food sales within 500 feet of many of the city's most popular neighborhoods and tourist destinations, including the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
Ana Cruz is one of many vendors who have worked along the Walk of Fame in recent years, noting that the recent decision has been difficult to cope with.
"It's really hard," she said. "It has been really, an impact on my economy, because I'm not able to sell as I would like to."
The city maintains that allowing sidewalk vending in tourist areas and sports venues causes overcrowding that leads to pedestrians walking in the street.
The petitioners -- some of home held a rally outside the downtown courthouse Thursday morning ahead of the hearing -- allege that no-vending zones conflict with SB 946, the 2018 California law that decriminalized street vending.
The coalition and the vendors say the city has not offered any data demonstrating when and where pedestrians have been forced to walk on the street, or on whether sidewalk vending is the cause or whether alternatives to a vending ban have been considered.
According to Chalfant's ruling, the city has not shown that its restrictions are directly related to objective health, safety or welfare concerns. He further said the city does not explain why the seven no-vendor locations were chosen, what overcrowding has occurred at those locations, why the 500-foot barrier was selected and whether sidewalk vending is directly related to the concerns stated.
"SB 946 precludes the city from adopting these restrictions without meeting its criteria and the court cannot ascertain whether the city has complied without such evidence," Chalfant wrote.
