San Francisco Mission Street vendors react to proposed legislation targeting stolen goods
A proposed new bill aimed at cracking down on the sale of stolen goods on San Francisco streets is being welcomed by legitimate vendors who sell their wares on Mission District street corners.
Rodrigo Lopez has been a vendor on Mission Street since 2019. Now, as the president of the Mission Street Vendors Association, he's leading a movement that's gaining traction.
"It's very exciting. Seven months ago, there were only a few vendors, and no one recognized any vendors. Right now everybody recognizes this move and we feel like we are part of the city, of the community because we have a voice," Lopez said.
Lopez says this shift is largely due to a change in the language used in new legislation that clarifies the association's role in representing permitted street vendors. These legislative changes are designed to combat illegal street vending, not just in the Mission but across San Francisco.
"That makes us feel happy when we hear someone like Senator Scott Wiener say that and Mayor London Breed say that. We feel like they're giving some respect and recognize our job," Lopez added.
On Monday, San Francisco State Sen. Scott Wiener said Senate Bill 925 would allow the police to issue citations to street vendors selling commonly stolen goods without a permit. Supervisor Ahsha Safaí, who says the warning process hasn't worked out, introduced another key legislative change.
"What we were doing, which was being exploited, was that the warning process kept repeating itself over and over again. But what we want to do with this is we're zeroing in on illegal street fencing of stolen items. And we want the inspectors to go, give a warning, document that warning. And for 120 days after that, if they come back and the individual can't produce a permit, a receipt for their items, those items would be seized," Safaí explained.
Supervisor Safaí says this legislation will be voted on next Monday, then it's expected to go to the full board. Within the next month, the bill should be finalized, opening up the opportunity to start training inspectors on how to address these changes.
"What we're doing now is we're tightening this up because we've learned and seen from the inspectors, the small businesses, and legal vendors themselves. We want to be able to distinguish and give the right tools to the inspectors so they can really target illegally fencing stolen items that are out there," Safaí said.
With these new laws, Lopez hopes to see improvements for those permitted street vendors as well.
"It's definitely a step in the right direction and we're happy because we feel like the city finally gave us something, tools to work with and everyone is very excited about what's gonna happen within the next few months. If these get approved in August, I think it's gonna be a success for everyone," Lopez said.