Last week, L.A. City Council unanimously approved the reduction of permit fees for street vendors in the City of Los Angeles. The ordinance, introduced by Councilmembers Nithya Raman and Curren Price, will bring the annual permit fee cost from $541 down to $27.51.
Back in 2022, Raman and Price requested that the City Administrative Officer (CAO) run a new fee study that would better reflect the income that is generated by street vendors. This new study would determine an acceptable price for a permit that better paves the way for park and sidewalk vendors to operate.
In the conducted study, the COA removed any costs related to “enforcement of permitted sidewalk activities,” which means the cost of having 22 enforcement staff in the Bureau of Street Services will no longer be included in the total permit price.
According to the fee study, the once-set price of $291 back in 2019-2022, remained unchanged because of the Covid-19 pandemic. In 2022, officials considered raising it to $541 but ultimately held off and proposed maintaining the reduced price for extended periods of time.
Back in 2018, when street vending became decriminalized, the city estimated there would be 50,000 vendors operating and hoped to issue 16,000 permits annually. However, the high fee discouraged participation, and only an average of 944 permits were issued each year. This meant most vendors operated without permits.