Letters to the Editor: Street vendors are seriously harming restaurants that are already struggling

To the editor: I supported candidate Nithya Raman in the primary, but now I am not so sure I can support either her or incumbent Mayor Karen Bass.

This issue of street food vendors is complicated (“Bass tells LAPD to stop issuing criminal citations to street vendors,” Aug. 27). On the one hand, we want to help independents (many of them immigrants) get a foothold. On the other hand, street vendors are seriously harming the brick-and-mortar businesses that are barely scraping by. It is not a high-profit business. Having food trucks and sidewalk vendors popping up everywhere seriously cuts into restaurant business.

I work at a Los Angeles Unified School District elementary school, and we used to reliably count on one of our community restaurants to donate and freely cater our volunteer luncheons. Last year, the restaurant told us to ask the street vendors to do it, as business was down 30% due to the street vendors siphoning customers. Yes, street food is cheaper, but the vendors are often not permitted, not inspected and do not have the overhead of a traditional restaurant.

For Raman to say, as the article puts it, “the city should provide pathways for food stands that make fresh food to get permits and grow their businesses, including potentially working toward a brick-and-mortar location,” is disingenuous. We already have brick-and-mortar locations. Why destroy the ones we have just to make more of them?

Street food vendors out-compete brick-and-mortar restaurants. It’s a circular argument. Once the street vendors establish themselves as restaurants, they will just be driven out of business by the next generation of street vendors.

Niels Goerrissen, Harbor City

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To the editor: The proposal attributed to Raman to have street vendors work in vending corridors with shared sinks, power, lighting, shade and restrooms is long overdue. While likely not envisioned to be comparable to the vibrant, clean food vending areas that define the world-class street food of Singapore, it would be a welcome step.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, we were admonished to follow the science of public health and the “dismal science” of economics. Wash your hands, cover your face and keep your distance. Too many sick people and dying patients would be a financial blow to the healthcare system.

With street vendors, public health has been completely ignored with water and restrooms absent. Basic economics fares no better. Despite widespread budget shortfalls, cities have foregone collecting reasonable fees for taxes and permits, putting law-abiding businesses at a serious disadvantage.

Robb Russell, Long Beach

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To the editor: Let me see if I understand this correctly: If an individual or organization wants to open a restaurant, it is utterly daunting to go through every aspect of permits, inspections, plumbing, ADA requirements and so on (this is all true). But if you have a propane tank, burner and table, you can set up on any sidewalk and cook and sell without any of the requirements that a restaurant is subject to, plus you can probably get away with not reporting your income and paying taxes for it.

It’s great to know our mayor is on board with this and instructed the police to look away and not enforce the same rules that restaurants are forced to obey.

Glenn Zweifel, Mar Vista