LA street vendors reach settlement with city over vending restrictions

Street vendors have reached a settlement agreement with the city of Los Angeles after a lawsuit was filed challenging vending restrictions, plaintiffs announced Friday.

In December 2022, street vendors Merlín Alvarado and Ruth Monroy, along with three community organizations -- Community Power Collective, East LA Community Corporation and Inclusive Action for the City -- sued the city, challenging a number of regulations in the ordinance, which they claim violate SB 946, a 2018 state law that legalized sidewalk vending statewide.

During a news conference in Hollywood on Friday, the plaintiffs and their attorneys said the settlement would repeal exclusionary vending bans across the city near swap meets, farmers' markets, schools and temporary events.

The city is also expected to cancel all citations issued for vending in those areas and provide full refunds to vendors for any fines paid.

"In this spot right here, there was once a huge, menacing sign with big, bold lettering that declared this entire Hollywood Walk of Fame to be a no vending zone," said Doug Smith, senior director of policy and legal strategy for inclusive action for the city.

"The city has also agreed to make vendors whole by canceling and refunding all citations issued for vending in the seven repealed no-vending zones and the other repealed exclusionary zones," said Ritu Mahajan, an attorney whose law firm has been representing community groups and street vendors over the past year and a half.

She said they're pleased with the relief the settlement provides.

"With this agreement, we are celebrating that there is no impossible for street vendors," said Alvarado in Spanish. "We are a working class like any other, like those who clean houses, like day laborers. We have rights too."

Smith says the win sends a message to other cities across California.

While the settlement is finalized, it still needs to be formally approved by the city council and Mayor Karen Bass, which plaintiffs expect to happen when the council returns from recess in August. Once approved, the city will have 90 days to gather all of the citations, identify the individuals eligible for relief under this agreement and send out the required notices to individual vendors.

Individual vendors who received notices or believe that they paid an eligible citation will need to call the Citation Processing Center to initiate the refund process.

Katie McKeon, attorney with Western Center on Law and Poverty, who represented the plaintiffs, noted the settlement ends what she calls harmful practices and provides justice to vendors.

"We are encouraged that the city is now committed to complying with state law and is adopting policies that respect and support the vital role vendors play in our communities,'' McKeon said.

In addition to Western Center on Law and Poverty, the plaintiffs were represented by Public Counsel and the law firm of Arnold and Porter.

"California's 'Safe Sidewalk Vending Act' is the law of the land and prevents cities from enacting vending regulations based solely on NIMBY complaints or economic animus,'' said Mahajan in a statement. "Punitive and baseless vending restrictions not only fly in the face of our collective culture and California history but they are unlawful, discriminatory and harmful to our communities' health and well-being.''

In February, the city of L.A. changed its street vending laws to eliminate the enforcement of so-called "no street vending zones,'' which prohibited street vendors from selling goods at popular tourist sites.

Zones were eliminated at the Hollywood Walk of Fame, Hollywood Bowl, Dodger Stadium, LA Live/Crypto.com Arena, Universal Studios/City Walk, El Pueblo De Los Angeles Historical Monument and Exposition Park.

The city also recently lowered the cost of vending permits to $27.51 from what could have been as high as $541.

The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors earlier this year also approved a similar pair of ordinances regulating sidewalk food vendors and adopted a subsidy program to offset some costs related to its permitting process.

Eyewitness News reached out to the city for a comment but has not heard back yet.

City News Service, Inc. contributed to this report.