Altadena street vendors clogging sidewalks and leaving trash, residents say

Residents and business owners in an Altadena neighborhood are growing frustrated at street vendors who they say are blocking sidewalks and leaving behind trash.

People told NBC4 the problem begins in the evening and stretches throughout the night, with vendors setting up shop and taking over the entire sidewalk, creating a mess when they leave.

Kathy Vasquez said her mother-in-law has had to throw out trash cans, gloves and grease left behind.

For the past eight months, she said, street vendors have expanded their setup and taken up too much public space. Her family is now setting up yellow tape because it’s all happening over her side fence. 

“They have loud music and throw their pans loud at night. They fought my mother-in-law. She wet them with the hose. The lady was mad and attacked her,” Vasquez said.

Jenna Aguilar, who works at Dominico’s Italian Kitchen, said the situation is unfair to brick-and-mortar businesses like hers.

“It’s very frustrating. I don’t think it’s fair for any business that go by all the rules and laws. They come and set up and things don’t apply to them,” she said.

NBC4 tried to speak to several street vendors about their setup, but they declined. 

Los Angeles County Supervisor Kathryn Barger said the issue is not the street vendors themselves but the blocking of sidewalks. Her office has fielded complaints of women with strollers going into the streets to get around the vendors, she said. 

“This is more than street vendors,” she said. “It’s people selling car parts, rugs, you name it. On Tuesday, I brought into motion an ordinance targeting right-of-way.”

The motion directs certain departments to draft an ordinance to regulate the placement of equipment and other items that obstruct pedestrian or car traffic. Then it will go to the board for a vote, which is the critical milestone.  

That is expected to happen at the end of the year. 

In 2018, California passed a law which ends criminalization of sidewalk vending, which the supervisor says will be challenging.

“It’s basically going to handcuff us to be able to regulate the type of food vendors that are out there,” she said, adding that something nonetheless must be done to address the problem.

Safety is what Barger said will be priority moving forward because it’s impacting not just her district but all of Southern California.

Vasquez, meanwhile, wants street vendors to be more courteous.

“I know it’s their job, but take into consideration the people,” she said. “They act like it’s their sidewalk.”