The L.A. County Department of Public Health confirmed via email Wednesday to The Signal that “enforcement activities for unpermitted vendors have been temporarily paused,” due to federal immigration actions and fears for staff safety related to those actions.
The Signal has made repeated requests since last week to speak with someone from the county’s Department of Public Health, after hearing about the concern from a reader.
Public Health officials declined to make an official available for an interview, but the following statement was issued:
“While Public Health historically has responded to complaints of unpermitted sidewalk food vending with investigation and enforcement, at this time, Public Health enforcement activities for unpermitted vendors have been temporarily paused due to safety concerns for our staff arising out of federal immigration enforcement actions in Los Angeles County,” according to the statement from the agency.
Instead, the priority would be “providing unpermitted food vendors with outreach and educational materials in English and Spanish on the steps needed to obtain a public health permit and the risks associated with not adhering to food safety standards,” according to the statement attributed to the L.A. County Department of Public Health.
In response to community concerns over illegal street vending in November, L.A. County 5th District Supervisor Kathryn Barger held a March community meeting in Castaic, where brick-and-mortar proprietors said their livelihoods were being poached by popup vendors on their property.
Public officials vowed action, and over the next several months, both the city of Santa Clarita and the county responded.
In March, the Sheriff’s Department announced the results of several days of operations targeting the vendors, and the city took a second taco vendor to court in July.
Barger is “aware of these community concerns and is presently exploring strategies to address them,” according to a statement sent Wednesday via text message by Helen Chavez, Barger’s director of communications.
Barger’s spokeswoman, Stephanie English, likened the food-vending operations to a well-organized “cartel” during the March community discussion. The vendors quickly replace any equipment that law enforcement officers confiscate and some even follow inspectors from their headquarters to alert food vendors in the neighborhoods where inspectors are headed.
Chris Dittes, a Castaic Area Town Council member, has been outspoken about community concerns, saying it’s an issue of fairness and public safety.
If the county knows the street vendors are operating like an organized cartel, he said, then they should be prosecuted like any criminal conspiracy.
“It’s pretty sad, you know? We have businesses throughout the town saying they’re going out of business … and these guys are spending hundreds and thousands of dollars to get the business going, just to make the first dime a couple years down the road,” Dittes said in a phone interview Wednesday, adding that the county is letting “unpermitted people go out there and rob business from them.”
