Six months after dozens of street vendors were displaced by chain-link fences installed along Alvarado Street and around the MacArthur Park Metro station, many of them are now in a dire situation as Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents continue to invade the city's streets.
“I fear that we will end up in the streets like all the people at the park, or worse, be disappeared,” said Nadia in Spanish, pointing at her unhoused neighbors. The names of the MacArthur Park street vendors quoted in this story have been changed for safety.
Back in March, when L.A. TACO spoke with street vendors like Nadia, who, like many, sell everyday household items on the sidewalk, the community was already feeling the financial blow of being displaced from their original locations, following a shooting in the area that led to new fencing being installed.
At the time, street vendors reported being unable to go out and sell for a month due to the fencing and increased enforcement by the Los Angeles Police Department.
According to vendors, the situation had gotten so bad that they draped a white tarp on the corner of 7th Street back in March with a message to the mayor that read: “LAPD said to have our permits. We do have them.” “Our families are hungry.” And “We are not criminals,” urging the mayor to remove the chain-link fence.
“A lot of them aren't even making a sale a day, and a lot of them are out here 12 hours a day,” said a street vendor organizer who preferred not to disclose her name. “This is dangerous because once street vendors and local businesses can't afford to be in the area, it leaves room for gentrification.”