Los Angeles looks to embrace street vending - legalize and regulate that is

Perceived as only a "third world activity", street vending in Los Angeles has been the subject of control or regulation in the past years. But no matter how the city takes its hands on the situation, street vendors do re-appear from the shadows, as soon the clearing police officers are gone.

Image: blogging.la

Said NyTimes:

But decades of police crackdowns have failed to curb this enormous illegal market. When the police vanish, the vendors move back into place, hawking sliced mangoes, DVDs, flowers, bicycles and more.

Just like in most Asian countries, specifically Philippines for example, street vendors, hawkers, traders and a whole lot of variations of running a mobile and fleeting market are rampant. In fact, it has become a social norm and largely, seemingly an indispensable component of daily living, even in the metropolis.

While Philippines is also struggling from the uncontrollable proliferation of street vendors, Los Angeles, unknowingly, looks like following the trend.

So a recent City Council plan was introduced last month, aiming to "legalize and regulate vendors", thereby opening a bright window for the struggling small time market players in LA.

City councilman Jose Huizar, the proponent of the plan to legalize street food said:

Street vending is a fact of life around here ..Los Angeles is good at some things, but we are behind the ball on others. We need regulations. The way it works right now, everyone loses.

Other cities in the US like New York, Dallas and Seattle have already passed laws regulating street foods / vending. This is perhaps a good reference for Los Angeles to look into.