FOOD FIGHT … Taco stands, fruit carts, palateros – or ice cream vendors – and many other small business owners can be found frequenting East Palo Alto residential streets on any given day. While the city of East Palo Alto is interested in sustaining small businesses, city staff presented a sidewalk vending analysis in an attempt to ensure community safety, protect the public right-away and address food safety complaints. Between various different types of local small businesses, stationary vendors that operate in the public right away – or sidewalks and streets – incur the most city complaints, said Denise Garcia, assistant to the city manager, at Tuesday’s East Palo Alto City Council meeting. The city estimates there are approximately six to 14 street vendors that frequent East Palo Alto, Garcia said, half of which appear to be from out of town, but the city is unsure how accurate this is. Some common concerns include improper food storage, trash buildup, sidewalk blockage, open flame concerns, vehicle obstruction and even humanitarian issues, like human trafficking concerns. Currently, East Palo Alto has no set rules on street vending, but San Mateo County food vendors must receive health permits and undergo annual inspections to remain in compliance with local laws – still the city has difficulty keeping track of local vendors because it cannot enforce county health permits. The state also has its own rules, like Senate Bill 946, passed in 2018, which prohibits California cities from barring street vendors or creating new street vending laws that differ from the bill. Now, the city of East Palo Alto hopes to create its own comprehensive street vending program that complies with the bill, which allows cities to ban vending in residential areas, require businesses licenses and prohibits cities from criminalizing sidewalk vending, among many other regulations. Many community members and city council members Ruben Abrica, Webster Lincoln and Mark Dinan expressed excitement about a new vending ordinance amid rampant pathway blockage complaints. “I think in our community it can be an opportunity for a good thing,” Abrica said, who believes that the program should be based on education, rather than penalization. City staff, who agreed the new regulations should be based in education, hope to create a program that creates regulatory practices, collaborates with the county health department, establishes a sidewalk vending outreach team, implements an education-enforcement routine, hosts quarterly permit workshops and develops a Spanish outreach program. While city staff must further research the subject to bring city council a more established plan, Abrica asked for the staff to consider implementing a future moratorium on street vending, in an attempt to properly enforce new laws.
WATCH THIS … Concerned about repeated incidents of vandalism, theft and interference, the Palo Alto City Council is preparing to approve the installation of security cameras in the Council Chambers at City Hall. The council is set to approve on April 22 a $4,886 contract with the firm Portola Systems Inc. for a camera system that will cover entry points, equipment-storage areas and the council dais. According to a report from the office of City Clerk, the technology may also include motion detectors and alarm systems that notify city personnel of suspicious activities. The purpose of the surveillance technology is to “enhance the safety and security of Council Chambers, which has been subject to unauthorized entry, vandalism, theft, and tampering with essential technology equipment such as computers, monitors, and TVs,” according to the report. The purchase comes as the Police Department prepares to relocate its headquarters from its current location in a City Hall wing near the Council Chambers to a new building at 350 Sherman Ave. “With the Police Department’s imminent relocation to the Public Safety Building, surveillance will help deter criminal activity, document incidents for investigative purposes, and protect city assets,” the report states. “It will also reduce the ongoing need for staff time and resources to address security breaches.”