At least three vendors said they were issued citations from Long Beach. Mekahlo Medina reports for the NBC4 News at 4 p.m. on Thursday, Aug. 15, 2024.
The enforcement of Long Beach’s 5-month-old vending ordinance appears to be in effect Thursday as three vendors at Junipero Beach say they have the ticket to prove it.
“They just rolled up like they are stalking me,” said Donald Davis, who was cited Tuesday. “They just rolled up and basically told me to shut it down.”
He posted a video to his Instagram account with Long Beach police telling him they were cracking down.
“(We’re) Long Beach police department. We’re just coming along the bike path, checking businesses for business licenses,” said an officer in the video.
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Davis, a recent transplant from Arizona, had just started to sell clothes on the beach bike path this week. He said he was unaware of the city’s new vending rules.
“A warning would have been nice. You take somebody to court -- that’s more time. I’m new here. They could have gave me a warning,” said Davis.
Long Beach has spent months holding town halls and outreach events trying to educate vendors on the new permit rules that went into effect Feb. 26.
Many of the permit fees have been waived for the first year as the city is helping vendors out with the cost of insurance.
“Right now, I’m stuck in the process. I’ve been compliant with health department, city officials, everything they’ve been asking me. The issue I have is I can’t afford to buy a $25,000 cart,” said Zhukry Gonzalez, an acai bowl vendor.
The city required most food vendors to have a pre-approved cart to obtain a license and health permit. The carts can cost between $5,000 and $30,000, depending on the type of food a vendor sells. The city has allocated $430,000 to purchase 40 carts to give away to vendors.
“But they are not ready,” said Gonzalez. “They say it won’t be ready until 2025.”
Without a pre-approve cart, Gonzalez can’t get a permit, and he can’t get the money for the cart without selling his acai bowls.
“I really want to comply, but I can’t,” said Gonzalez.
NBC4 reached out to the city for comment Thursday.
In May, city health officials said they were working hard to inform vendors, waive fees and offered the free carts to make the process easier for struggling vendors.
