Strategy in Action

Tool : Vendor Coalitions

The LA Street Vendor Campaign (LASVC) was an effort to create a permitting system for street vendors that resulted in the legalization of street vending in Los Angeles in 2018, and a statewide policy that decriminalized street vending throughout California.

In 2008, residents of Boyle Heights, a diverse immigrant neighborhood, collaborated with two community-based organizations and the co-founder of LASVC to advocate for street vendors who were being harassed by police. Four years later, activists officially launched LASVC. The campaign later expanded beyond Boyle Heights in resident forums on how vendors could be a part of a more inclusive local economy.

In part due to advocacy by LASVC and other coalition members, the City of Los Angeles decriminalized sidewalk vending in 2017, which allows police to levy only administrative fines for sidewalk vending violations. In 2020, the city issued its first permit to legally sell goods on the streets of Los Angeles.

At the state level, the California Street Vendor Campaign worked with attorneys, advocates, and nonprofits to pass Senate Bill 972 in 2022, which amends the state retail food code to make it easier for sidewalk food vendors to obtain health permits.