[dropcap size=big]A[/dropcap]s an Angeleno and academic, I’m appalled by the Los Angeles City Council’s recent approval of a street vendor permit fee of $541 (starting July 1, 2020) under the city’s “Sidewalk and Park Vending Program.” It was a 13-0-2 vote, where the lords of the nation’s second-largest city voted in unison with the exception of two absent council members: Gil Cedillo and Monica Rodriguez. Those who voted “yes” to this prohibitive fee for our city’s most vulnerable workers and petty entrepreneurs include the following council members: Herb Wesson, Joe Buscaino, Jose Huizar, Curren D. Price, Mike Bonin, Paul Krekorian, Bob Blumenfield, David Ryu, Paul Koretz, Nury Martinez, John Lee, Mitch O’Farrell, and Marqueece Harris-Dawson.
Given that Los Angeles Council Members earn an average salary of $173,676 (or $184,676 with retirement and healthcare benefits), for these privileged and powerful individuals, $541 amounts to a fancy concert and dinner night out without financial worries. In contrast, according to a 2015 report by the Economic Roundtable, Sidewalk Stimulus: Economic and Geographic Impact of Los Angeles Street Vendors, street vendors “…generate on average $204 a week or $10,098 a year in revenue.”
Hence, street vendors must work almost three weeks to simply pay for the expensive $541 fee.
All of these so-called leaders should be ashamed of themselves!
According to the aforementioned report, the city benefits financially from the thousands of street vendors operating in the city: “From food to merchandise, 50,000 sidewalk entrepreneurs stimulate the local economy by generating $434 million in economic activity.” Now, if the city is already receiving the financial benefits from these economic activities by informal workers and street-level entrepreneurs, why impose a financial burden on them with a $541 fee?