Street Sellers Push for Vending District in Boyle Heights

The street vendors in Boyle Heights say they are just trying to make a living. The police say the bottom line is that street vending there is illegal.

Vendors who sell their goods along Cesar Chavez Boulevard met Thursday to map out a strategy in light of a recent Los Angeles Police Department raid that resulted in 40 arrests for illegal street sales. The City Council allows vendors to work only in authorized vending districts, and so far only one--in MacArthur Park--has been established.

At 9 p.m. on Aug. 9, about 50 officers from the Hollenbeck Division converged on Breed Street and Cesar Chavez Boulevard, confiscated everything from taquitos to T-shirts and arrested vendors who were incarcerated for six hours and issued fines of $50 to $565.

“We feel the Los Angeles Police Department is more useful fighting crime than spending time arresting someone trying to make a living to support their family,” said Juan Jose Gutierrez, director of the One Stop Immigration Center.

Still, Gutierrez says the vendors, 10 of whom met in his office Thursday, want to comply with the law. The meeting focused on how they can move toward their goal of establishing a vending district in Boyle Heights.

Some vendors, such as Martin Ortega, who sells tacos, expressed dismay that his councilman, Richard Alatorre, has not moved more quickly to help establish a vending district. “We have tried to get in contact with him, but it is very hard to reach him,” said Ortega.

Alatorre said he will meet with the vendors after he attends the Democratic National Convention in Chicago next week.

“The police get complaints from neighbors and businesses about the vendors,” said Hollenbeck Sgt. Michael Barela, who said the majority of complaints concern garbage and unsanitary food conditions.

Officer Phillip Moriel said that it is not easy to rid the neighborhood of vendors.

“We cite them, confiscate the goods, but they come right back,” he said.