article The streets of San Francisco’s Mission District buzz with activity, including unlicensed street vending on Mission Street, often selling stolen goods. Legal street vending is currently under a pause in the city, with a pilot program now underway with fewer than three dozen legal vendors. This year he said he’s introducing it earlier, […]
The streets of San Francisco’s Mission District buzz with activity, including unlicensed street vending on Mission Street, often selling stolen goods. Legal street vending is currently under a pause in the city, with a pilot program now underway with fewer than three dozen legal vendors. This year he said he’s introducing it earlier, and expects broad support. This is the second year in a row Sen. Wiener will be pushing for this legislation. He said last year the bill was introduced a little too late in the legislative session, and it died working its way through the process. “Unfortunately, what we’ve seen is some bad actors who are selling stolen goods illegal goods are sort of mixing in with the very good actors who just want to make a living and our staff has been assaulted,” said Carla Short from DPW. Legal vendors, like Rodrigo Lopez, who have gone through a vetting process and have proof of the origin of their inventory, say they welcome the proposed law, saying it will make the streets safer for everyone.
The bill would be specific to San Francisco, and would allow San Francisco police to cite people selling stolen goods on the streets. After the first two citations, illegal vendors could be prosecuted for a misdemeanor and face six months in jail. “This bill will give San Francisco the tools we need to crack down on retail theft,” said Mayor Lurie. KTVU captured video of vendors who quickly packed up their items when our camera showed up. It’s a problem that has persisted for years, and now State Senator Scott Wiener and Mayor Daniel Lurie are proposing a legislative fix. “These fencing operations fuel retail theft, because that’s where they get the stolen goods,” said Sen. Wiener. “[They] drive out legitimate street vendors, who are at times living in fear and undermine public safety.” “Yeah, that’s our goal that families feel safe walking on the sidewalk and shopping with the stores, with us,” said Rodrigo. “We want people to come back to the Mission and be like it used to be.” SAN FRANCISCO – San Francisco leaders are working together to craft new legislation aimed at curbing the sale of stolen goods on the streets of the city. Authors of the bill hope that it will allow legal vending to flourish. What they’re saying: Supporters hope that getting rid of the bad actors will allow legitimate vendors to succeed. Under current law, Department of Public Works employees have been in charge of enforcement and pushing out illegal vendors and fencing operations, facing danger regularly.
