The Fontana City Council on Oct. 10 voted unanimously in favor of an ordinance which aims to crack down on unlicensed street vendors.
The city’s goal is to help protect the community by “more effectively regulating sale of food, goods, and merchandise creating a health and safety danger,” according to a city report.
The city will pay nearly $600,000 to a private company, 4LEAF, for six months to enforce the ordinance’s rules.
For more than a year, the city has been using various methods of persuasion and punishment to try to reduce the increasing number of unlicensed vendors in the city, with very little success.
So now, officials are implementing their toughest measures yet, which are necessary because “it has become a real nuisance,” Mayor Acquanetta Warren said.
Previously, code enforcement personnel would seize perishable foods from the unauthorized vendors. As a result of the new ordinance, code enforcement will have the authorization to impound all of the vendors’ equipment, including a cart, and keep it for 60 days.
If a vendor interferes in any way with personnel who seize these items, the vendor could be charged with a misdemeanor and could potentially face a $1,000 fine and/or imprisonment for six months, the ordinance said.
4LEAF will be enforcing the policy six evenings per week, an increase from the current three evenings, said Jason Barber, the city’s supervising code enforcement inspector.
The ordinance applies to all vendors who do not possess a valid and displayed health permit from the San Bernardino County Health Department.
So far, a total of six street vendors have obtained the necessary permit.
During the meeting, one resident, Oscar Zambrano, expressed his opposition to the ordinance, saying it unfairly targeted the Latino community.
Amanda Morales, a representative from the Fontana Chamber of Commerce, responded by defending the new policy, saying that many licensed restaurant owners, including those who are Hispanic, are suffering because unapproved vendors take away their business.
Warren has said repeatedly that unlicensed street vendors cause many problems, including selling food which may be harmful to consumers due to unsanitary conditions.
