LOS ANGELES (KABC) — Street vendors have reached a settlement agreement with the city of Los Angeles after filing a lawsuit challenging vending restrictions, the plaintiffs announced Friday.
In December 2022, street vendors Merlyn Alvarado and Ruth Monroy, along with three local groups — Community Power Collective, East LA Community Corporation and Inclusive Action for the City — filed a lawsuit against the city, alleging that several regulations in the ordinance violate SB 946, a 2018 state law that legalized sidewalk vending statewide.
At a news conference in Hollywood on Friday, the plaintiffs and their lawyers said the settlement would lift bans on exclusivity near the city’s swap meets, farmers’ markets, schools and special events.
The city will also cancel all citations issued for sales in these areas and fully refund any fines paid to sellers.
“This location once housed a sign with large, intimidating letters declaring the entirety of the Hollywood Walk of Fame a no-sales zone,” said Doug Smith, the city’s senior director of inclusive action policy and legal strategies.
“The city has also agreed to fully compensate vendors by canceling and refunding all tickets issued for vending in the seven closed no-go zones and other closed no-go zones,” said Ritu Mahajan, an attorney with the law firm who has been representing community groups and street vendors for the past year and a half.
She said she was pleased with the relief provided by the settlement.
“With this agreement we celebrate that nothing is impossible for street vendors,” Alvarado said in Spanish. “We are just like any other working class person, like house cleaners or day laborers. We have rights too.”
Smith said the win sends a message to other cities in California.
Although the settlement has been reached, it still needs to be formally approved by the City Council and Mayor Karen Bass, which the plaintiffs expect will happen when the City Council returns from its August recess. If approved, the city would have 90 days to collect all complaints, identify individuals eligible for relief under the agreement, and send the required notices to individual businesses.
Individual vendors who have received a notice or believe they have paid an affected ticket should call the Ticket Processing Center to begin the refund process.
Katie McKeon, an attorney with the Western Center for Law and Poverty, who is representing the plaintiffs, said the settlement will end what she called a harmful practice and bring justice to the contractors.
“I am encouraged that the city is committed to complying with state law and adopting policies that respect and support the important role vendors play in the community,” McKeown said.
The plaintiffs were represented by the Western Center for Law and Poverty, as well as Public Counsel and the law firm of Arnold & Porter.
“California’s ‘Safe Sidewalk Vending’ law is the law of the land and prohibits cities from enacting vending restrictions based solely on NIMBY complaints or economic animosity,” Mahajan said in a statement. “Punitive, baseless vending restrictions are not only counter to our collective culture and California’s history, they are also illegal, discriminatory, and harmful to the health and well-being of our communities.”
The city of Los Angeles updated its street vending laws in February, eliminating enforcement of so-called “no-vending zones” that prohibit street vendors from selling wares in popular tourist areas.
Zones that have been eliminated include the Hollywood Walk of Fame, Hollywood Bowl, Dodger Stadium, LA Live/Crypto.com Arena, Universal Studios/City Walk, El Pueblo de Los Angeles Historic Monument, and Exposition Park.
The city also recently reduced the cost of a vending permit from a maximum of $541 to $27.51.
The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors approved a similar ordinance regulating sidewalk food vendors earlier this year and introduced a grant program to offset some of the costs associated with the permitting process.
Eyewitness News has reached out to the city for comment but has not yet heard back.
City News Service, Inc. contributed to this report.
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