2 Orange County cities beef up street food enforcement
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Two Orange County cities took additional measures to strengthen enforcement efforts against street food vendors.
On Tuesday, the Buena Park City Council voted to give code enforcement officers the ability to impound street food vending equipment.
The vote came at the same time that the Anaheim City Council approved two $250,000 contracts for third-party consultants that will, in a small part, assist its code officers with cracking down on taco stands, fruit carts and other vendors that set up on sidewalks without required permits.
Sometimes employing lookouts, street taco vendors stay a step ahead of Anaheim’s enforcement efforts, frustrating officials and nearby restaurants.
Buena Park originally took limited measures in 2021 to ban street food vending in areas around Knott’s Berry Farm and the city’s auto center, two years after the California Safe Sidewalk Vending Act became state law.
But a pair of study sessions last year claimed that street food vendors continued to set up on sidewalks throughout the city — and that flies and maggots were even found in the meat of one street taco stand.
Former City Councilman Jose Trinidad Castañeda balked at the notion while wanting to keep the 2021 laws in place.
“You’re not seeing maggots on all the tacos from every street vendor in the city,” he said during the Feb. 27 meeting. “Let’s be a little bit real here.”
A majority of council members, though, directed city staff to explore granting code enforcement with impounding authority, which came back on Tuesday for discussion.
Matt Foulkes, the city’s community and economic development director, noted that one part-time code officer is currently tasked with street vending enforcement.
Orange County Health Care Agency officers, who have impound authorities, have teamed with Buena Park for enforcement efforts but have been limited to one to three actions per month, according to the city.
A change in city law will give code enforcement the power to confiscate tents, tables and grilling equipment for 90 days, while also dumping food.
The approach takes a page out of Anaheim’s playbook.
“What Anaheim was experiencing was very similar to us, but of course, on a larger scale,” Foulkes said.
“This is a tool in our toolbox,” he later added. “But in cases where we have repeated offenders … this impoundment would allow us to, ultimately, take their equipment, which we have found to be the most effective method.”
City staff estimated that up to as many as a dozen street vendors operate in Buena Park on any given weekday. During Halloween Haunt season at Knott’s Berry Farm, that number balloons up to 40.
“I would like to see somewhat of a pathway for these people to conduct business legally,” Councilman Carlos Franco said. “In addition, if there was no demand for it, then they wouldn’t be here.”
Council members approved the changes to the law in a 4-1 vote, with Franco being the lone vote against it. A second, unanimous vote set the impound fees at $265.
Under the amended law, code enforcement can directly impound equipment if a street vendor appears to have abandoned it or if it poses an imminent safety or environmental hazard. In most cases, a code officer will approach vendors and allow them to pack up their equipment within 30 minutes or risk impoundment.
Code officers will begin notifying street food vendors of the changes 30 days before they take effect.
Councilman Connor Traut voted in favor of the beefed up measures.
“We’ve kind of hit our limits,” he said. “We need this extra stick. It’s a necessary step and I think we should still work towards encouraging legal street vending and amending rules, because the demand is there for folks in our community.”
Angels Baseball president warns Anaheim and Orange County officials of fans possibly dying from eating food served up by street hot dog vendors outside Angel Stadium.
It’s a strategy that Anaheim added to on Tuesday when it contracted with two private companies for supplemental staff to help with an array of code enforcement tasks.
Before Anaheim, 4Leaf Inc. gained a $600,000 contract with Fontana to assist code officers with street vendor crackdowns.
Where it concerns street food vending, 4Leaf’s contract in Anaheim allows it to provide up to 15 staffers for enforcement efforts at large sporting events at Angel Stadium, Honda Center and the Anaheim Resort around Disneyland.
More staffers could be made available if multiple events occur on the same day.
The hiring of support staff comes after Angels Baseball President John Carpino railed against hot dog vendors setting up outside of Angel Stadium last season.
Carpino sounded the alarm about a guest getting “severely sick or even dying due to food poisoning” in an April email to city officials.
By June, Anaheim solicited bids for code enforcement support staff.
As an independent contractor, 4Leaf workers will have the same ability to “seize, transport and book” vendor equipment as city code officers.
The terms and services offered by the Willdan Engineering contract are the same.
“Neither is being hired just for street vending,” Mike Lyster, a city spokesman, added. “We’ve actually had tremendous success with street vending enforcement on our own. We still have issues at the stadium, at Honda Center and along Harbor Boulevard. These contracts will give us more flexibility.”
Former Anaheim Mayor Curt Pringle lobbied city officials in December 2023 on Willdan’s behalf, according to Anaheim’s lobbyist registry.
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