A five-day operation targeting illegal street vending seized 7,600 pounds in food, liquid and meat from 18 different vendors from across the Santa Clarita Valley, according to SCV Sheriff’s Station officials, who assisted in the operation.
The effort was led by the L.A. County Department of Public Health, with deputies providing security, transportation and assistance in locating and cataloguing the violations, according to Deputy Robert Jensen, spokesman for the SCV Sheriff’s Station.
In addition to seven vehicles or trailers being towed, there was one arrest made as deputies discovered a person with a felony warrant for battery during the course of the operations, and five other individuals were arrested for outstanding misdemeanor warrants.
“We collect the data as far as where (the illegal vendors) are located, along with the Public Health Department, and then when we get these teams together, it’s multiple agencies,” said Jensen, also mentioning the city of Santa Clarita’s Code Enforcement Division, L.A. County Public Works and the county’s Tax Collectors Unit.
Some of the enforcement activities involved repeat encounters over the course of the week, Jensen said.
“So, we shut them down and towed the vehicle on the first or second day of the operation, and they were already out and back up later in the week,” he said. “So that was something we were dealing with also.”
Jensen also acknowledged the concerns raised in March by local business owners, who have been frustrated by what they describe as a recent proliferation of illegal vendors on properties they rent or pay for with property taxes.
While county officials have been working for years on a plan to address recent state laws they described as intending to “decriminalize” street vending, the result has been an abundance of vendors cropping up in shopping plazas and gas stations. A pair of Senate bills, 946 and 972, have essentially removed most consequences for those who violate the laws and regulations around street vending.
James Dragan, Environmental Health Services manager for L.A. County and overseer of street-vending regulation, said an unintended consequence of the new rules was vendors interpreting the language to include merchandise and food.
Dragan said that’s not the intention, but those laws have also removed the enforcement mechanism, making it difficult to stop.
City officials announced a lawsuit in 2023 against Tacos Jacky, one of the larger street food operations, which the city claimed was creating a serious health risk through numerous violations. That lawsuit ended with a stipulated agreement in October 2024 that stated Tacos Jacky wouldn’t conduct any more unpermitted sales in city limits, and if it does, its equipment will be impounded.
At a March 27 county meeting with Castaic business owners, local proprietors said the unpermitted sales, happening on property they paid rent on, represented unfair competition that was putting them out of business.
One asked rhetorically why they should pay rent if they could burn their lease and sell goods in a street or parking lot where they don’t have to pay for the space.
Jensen said the station would continue to do what it can with its partners in order to try and keep people safe.
“We’re grateful for the partnerships of all the agencies. I mean, every agency has both hands in the mix, trying to do everything they can. This is not an issue that we’re not working on,” Jensen said.
He said regardless of what happens with legislation, the station’s policy is, “Every ounce counts.”
“We say this all the time: ‘Our job does not change.’ What happens down the line may change all the time, and the penalties may change, the enforcement or the backing may change, but that has never changed our job,” Jensen said.
“We can’t control that,” Jensen said, regarding any potential changes to the laws around street vending. “So we’re just trying to continue to show the public that we’re working hard to get on top of these issues to the best of our agency’s ability, and we totally rely on the agencies that you know follow in that chain of justice, if you will, to do their part.”
