City and county leaders in Santa Barbara get steaming complaints over illegal street vendors
SANTA BARBARA, Calif. – Illegal street vendors, mainly those selling hot food, have heated up a debate over whether they should be allowed in and around Santa Barbara or if there should be a crack down.
Santa Barbara City Councilmember Oscar Gutierrez says he has gone out to ask the vendors to apply for permits and he says there's been no action.
He has received many messages from business owners in and out of his district. "They are upset about it and they're demanding that we do something about it."
The Special Assistant to the City Administrator Barbara Andersen says she and others with the police, fire and health department have also looked into concerns, and there are many.
They include no refrigeration, no temperature checks, transported prepared food, open fires and set ups that block bike lanes. "You can not be within five feet of a crosswalk let along blocking a sidewalk let alone blocked a multi-use pathway," said Andersen. "Honestly at any one point someone can can step out of line and get hit by a car."
One location on Mission St. is directly on a brand new city bikeway and street improvement site that is part of a project that cost millions of taxpayer dollars. Passersby were outspoken about the bike lane being used as a kitchen, forcing riders into the traffic lanes.
One resident Adriana Ricconimi says the street tacos she had at Milpas and Haley St. were delicious and better than a local restaurant. They were also cheaper at $2.50 each.
She also felt more comfortable with the food and had no worries about the cooks, the vendor set up or risks. Ricconimi said if it wasn't good the vendors would not have a line.
She said, "see the way that they do it? The first thing we saw , we gonna get pastor tacos! They specialize in tacos only, so over there (restaurants) they make a lot of other things and here when they do this thing they make more flavor on it . "
Some of the set ups are on State St. right next to existing permitted businesses.
Food truck operators have especially called out the competition. Food trucks have to be approved and permitted by the Santa Barbara County Health Department to operate.
One food truck owner said they may go out of business because of this issue.
Andersen says the city is trying to help the vendors but the workers say they aren't the owners.
Gutierrez agreed saying he and Councilmember Allejandra Gutierrez have offered to assist the vendors, but they have been rejected.
The vendors are dealing in cash only.
Gutierrez said, "the food may be great and we don't want to knock them for wanting to be business owners but we just want them to be permitted.  I personally saw them charging different people different prices."
So far two citations for fire violations have been issued. Andersen says other cities have had serious fire issues from the vendors either through open flame cooking or with the propane tanks. She said the set ups are near "other businesses or buildings and we've actually heard from other cities that they have had fire incidents." In the county area off Turnpike one was set up with an open flame near a gas station during a fuel delivery. The sheriff and fire departments were called.
Cities throughout California are now facing this kind of issue including Ventura and Oxnard. In some cases it is more than food, it's fruit and flowers.
The issues are similar in all locations. "A lack of hand washing stations, a lack of refrigeration, they are using coolers and again keeping that temperature control is inconsistent."
Social media comments are also showing this is a hot topic. Many comments say the vendors need to make a living and should not be targeted. Others agree with the city about following local permit rules and not impacting sidewalks or streets. Some of the comments say there are not enough food choices late at night.
Andersen said, "if we shut down one or two or three locations earlier in the evening , they show up to another location later on. Again that food has been moved." That speaks to the issue of proper quality controls.
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