SAN FRANCISCO (KRON) -- A deadline is looming for street vendors to get off the streets in San Francisco’s Mission District, and the vendors aren’t happy about their options.
Supervisor Hillary Ronen says it’s too dangerous to allow operations to continue as they have been. KRON4 spoke with the supervisor who told us the timing of her plan.
Ronen says street vendors will have to relocate sometime next month, but that an exact date and where they’ll be able to go is still in the works. This is what the BART station at 24th and Mission in San Francisco looks like on any given night.
However, that won't be for long, according to Supervisor Hillary Ronen. Starting next month, street vending with or without a permit will be prohibited because of how dangerous conditions have become.
“There’s been gunshots, there’s been regular assaults," Ronen said. "There has been extortion of the legacy vendors by the vendors involved with the fencing of goods.”
It’s been six months since the city started requiring proof of a permit. However, those from the Department of Public Works walking around the Mission District enforcing the law have been met with violence.
“They’ve been threatened with their lives and assaulted, so much so that they where bulletproof vests to work," Ronen said.
She says illegal vendors are the problem and to separate the bad from the good. The city is in the process of renting a storefront on Mission Street that legal street vendors can work inside of -- as well as inside BART plazas and a parking lot on 24th Street.
"Those will be alternative spaces for people that are legally selling goods that they have made or purchased, but nobody will be able to sell those goods on Mission Street itself," Ronen said.
The vendors who work in the area between Cesar Chavez and 14th Streets aren’t happy about the changes.
“They feel like they’ve been kicked around a lot on this that folks have gone through the proper permitting processes," said Co-Chair of San Francisco Latinx Democratic Club Kevin Ortiz.
The San Francisco Latinx Democratic Club does a lot of the outreach to vendors selling their goods. Ortiz says there are a lot of frustrations being felt and that there needs to be more options for locations than have been presented.
“Like we need to have a space for all the vendors that have actually went through proper permitting process," Ortiz said. "Not just one storefront. I think it should be frankly you know different commercial corridors as well as different storefronts as well.”
The street vendor ban will be for at least 90 days and includes anyone selling goods or prepackaged foods. Vendors of handmade food will still be able to sell.
from KRON4 https://ift.tt/ImqJSd3
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