Department of Public Works employees, facing threats and physical violence in nearly a year of a new effort to tackle unpermitted vending, say they want police to take over enforcement.
“We won’t even say anything yet — they’re already threatening our families, threatening to kill us, telling us, ‘Just wait ’til we see you without the police,’ ‘We’ll follow you to your home,’” said one worker named John at the Mission District police station’s latest monthly community meeting.
“We’ve had inspectors being punched before, cans thrown at us, you name it,” said Alejandro, another worker.
About half a dozen Public Works staff patrol the Mission Street commercial corridor daily between 16th and 24th streets, part of an effort started in September to crack down on unpermitted street vending under new city permit requirements.
But it is clear when observing the vending hotspots at the plazas and along Mission Street that the effects of enforcement are temporary at best. Some vendors pack up and leave when city officials approach, but return once the officials have left.
It’s a “zero sum game” for some vendors who don’t have San Francisco addresses or scavenge or steal the goods they sell, said Michael Lennon, a Public Works manager. They can easily abandon their goods and leave the scene.
Lennon said that Public Works seizes property “almost on a daily basis,” after a lengthy multi-step process of educating vendors and issuing warnings. Sometimes, he said, situations escalate quickly.
“They have been physically assaulted; thankfully nothing too serious, but still scary,” said Public Works spokesperson Rachel Gordon, who noted, in response to the issues discussed at the meeting, that workers are unarmed, and will remain that way.
“We’ve made it very clear with our workers: If there aren’t the police available to support in the inspections, or if you’re feeling particularly vulnerable or it’s a danger … to extract yourself from the situation.”
Gordon said Public Works has a “closetful” of confiscated goods that it intends to donate to nonprofits.
While police are supposed to assist in the enforcement operations, Public Works and SFPD are not always at the same place at the same time — something that could be improved, Lennon said.
And, although Lennon and his colleagues who spoke with community members on Tuesday indicated that police taking over permit enforcement would be ideal, state law prohibits that.
Senate Bill 946, passed in 2018, decriminalized sidewalk vending, and prohibits criminal penalties for violations of sidewalk vending ordinances and regulations.
“State law was probably well-intended” with regards to avoiding opportunities for police abuses, said Santiago Lerma, a legislative aide for District 9 Supervisor Hillary Ronen. “But what the law has really done is made it difficult for us in San Francisco to regulate what’s going on on the street beyond 6 p.m.”
When the permit system first went into effect, community leaders emphasized that criminalization was not the goal.
But when administrative citations are issued for violating San Francisco’s permit requirement, Lennon said, they don’t “necessarily have teeth, or much of an impact on the particular group of violators who are most problematic.”
One community member, speaking with the Public Works workers at last week’s community meeting, called the process a “mockery.” Lennon said he didn’t disagree with that assessment.
For now, Public Works’ spokesperson said the department will continue its enforcement as best it can, shifting schedules and tactics as needed.
“If there are ways that we can pivot to make it more successful, then we’re always open to that,” Gordon said, adding that when workers are present, illegal vending issues improve. “Hopefully, through continued enforcement, we’ll get some behavioral changes.”
maybe this is whay he workers are being attacked
( they are being violent to the community )
https://www.instagram.com/reel/Cx6BGOIPVnP/?igshid=MzRlODBiNWFlZA%3D%3D
Start locking the vendors up. The merch is all stolen anyway. Once they know they will be jailed, they will stop selling. Same w all the bike thefts, I see people disassembling & reassembling bikes every day. Confiscate the bikes lock up the thieves. It’s a f*cking joke — why not make it a law that bicycles need to be registered, then when the thief can’t prove ownership, impound the bike.
I saw the health dept guy chatting with a hotdog vendor then leave with a bacon wrapped dog. If you can’t beat them, join them!
They should just arrest them as fences selling stolen goods.
Selling items on the street might not be criminally prosecutable.
Selling stolen goods on the street probably is.
Make it a crime to display and sell more than 2 items without proof of ownership.
This is what happens when you stop enforcing laws. The criminals take over
Don’t knock the street vendors until you try them. I shop local and buy all my toiletries, coffee, batteries, and laundry detergent from a nice gentleman who sells items on a blanket down the street from my apartment. He even was selling a whole roast beef once! Prices are great and inventory isn’t behind glass like at Walgreens, so it’s much faster and easier to get the things I need. I hesitate to talk him up too much because I don’t want his prices to go up, but it’s really a great neighborhood service.
Start locking the vendors up. The merch is all stolen anyway. Once they know they will be jailed, they will stop selling. Same w all the bike thefts, I see people disassembling & reassembling bikes every day. Confiscate the bikes lock up the thieves. It’s a f*cking joke — why not make it a law that bicycles need to be registered, then when the thief can’t prove ownership, impound the bike.
People got to eat!!! I’m sorry I am on their side. You all made it legal now you’re trying to make it illegal take their stuff *whether it’s stolen or not* and then put the public workers through all of that Danger?! I’ve seen these people throw feces at other people. And please everyone do not act so fu*kin* righteous as if you never bought any of that stolen stuff from these people or any stolen stuff in your life. Get Bent,Leave em alone yall ain’t chaning nothing. I promise you I’ll stop with the negative energy or else karma is going to have its way and take its due. Whether you believe in karma or not it doesn’t matter because it believes in you.
If you worked for a living and had your trusty DeWalt chop saw stolen only to see it displayed by “the tool guy” on Mission St., you’d get your muthrfukin’ anger into high gear. That is – if you worked for a living.
CARLOS FROM DA BLOCK AROUND THE CORNER
And, no, I don’t steal and don’t buy some poor suckers stolen shit.
Its your own fault, you should of enforced it years ago, before it became a problem.
There shouldn’t be no food vendor and fruits allowed to sale why because you don’t know how they preparing the food at home.and for the fruits after they finish were do they storage it at they leave in they truck no refrigerator so no permit for them get them off the street and the food that sale from trucks they paid taxes it not fair to them
That what happens when law is not a major concern. I mean, the law which protects obedient hard working tax paying citizens. No law, no order. As simple as that.
Street “vendors” selling stolen goods are protected.
Police and city workers are harassed, no wonder…
Keep woting for people who preoccupied with wokeness and take care of criminals and illegal immigrants.
I am sorry for city which is rapidly decline…
I am glad I live in East Bay,but every time I visit the city, I see how it is turning into a dump…
Nah, this is what happens when the City can’t leave well enough alone and just let people live their lives. There’s plenty of rotten shit going on in the Bay, and this should be at the bottom of the list of concerns.
There’s a white woman charging $500 for sidewalk fashion classes on 25th Street and Mission WITHOUT A PERMIT and on city sidewalks. Not a word directed to her from the enforcement personnel. This is a racially motivated operation that targets immigrants and low income folks. The city doesn’t prevent her from making over $60k every summer on public property, yet one block up the street my elderly neighbor can’t sell the items we give him on occasion to help him out.
Stop being ridiculous.
All of this stuff is stolen, these “vendors” should be locked up.
Just because one person who isn’t making a mess and being obnoxious is white doesn’t make this racially motivated.
You know damn well 99%of what they sell is stollen lol. Race has nothing to do with it. Your “wokeness” is what’s killing our neighborhood
I suggest you revisit the way you choose to speak to people from your anonymous account. You shall not speak to me like that. Furthermore you have proven my point. Your time stamp is at midnight suggesting you’re not getting proper sleep. Please take care of yourself and worry less about calling me woke.
“Wokeness” is the feeling of empathy towards others – specifically black people. You obviously lack that.
Or else you are ignorant of the definition of “wokeness”.
It’s about time it makes the mission street look cheap with all those vendors
Sad thing is, Even if San Francisco votes in a conservative government to clean up the trash, as soon as the trash is cleaned up you’ll go right back to the same socialist policies.
It appears that a lot of comments here are made while inebriated
If unlicensed vendors threaten Public Works personnel, it’s all the more reason to shut them down. Also, seizing stolen property from vendors is probably going to be more effective than issuing citations.
They need to put an end to this crooked business, permit or no permit.
Everyone knows that merchandise is stolen from Target or Walgreens.
We need to support our stores not people that are stealing, what are you guys going to do when we don’t have anymore stores to go to?
These people that are selling this merchandise get this stuff by exchanging it for drugs.
Drug addiction is just that: an addiction. Heroin withdrawal without medical intervention can actually kill you.
Unless and until there is housing and access to mental health care and drug treatment, you are going to see more of this. And then you’re going to flock to conservatives who will sell you the snake oil of useless “solutions” that they know full well do not work. And then it will get worse.
public works should not be the ones out there doing it. the city wants to increase their enforcement with people who are not up to it. most of those people who signed up for the job dont have the skills. they just need jobs and the non profits need dumdums who want to do the job. most are like school hall moniters. and of course they gunna be scared and feel threatened. they arent helping the vendors. they are the ones threatening the last way they know how to make money. criminal or not. and the non profits go along with the business owners, cus they both in it for the funding. help get the vendors legit businesses. the store owners on mission street all got some help from somewhere.
If SB 946 decriminalized sidewalk vending, then why is the city attempting to harass and dismantle the vending. Obviously it is not a crime and cannot be penalized as a crime. Perhaps the solution is to legislate the issue, not make it a clash between city workers and people who are not, and I repeat are not, breaking the law. Free enterprise as a means to feed oneself and one’s families is as American as it gets. Welcome to America, what are you offering today?
I think you misread the article, the harassment is going the other way.
SB 946 does not legalize street vending without a permit. Or mass robbery of stores which is very obviously where all of the power tools with Home Depot tags on Mission Street come from.
This whole thing about permits is dumb. There’s no such thing as legally selling a store’s merchandise on the sidewalk. As you walk by, you notice a lot of the stuff still has the store’s security devices attached. The police should sweep in and make arrests, not for unpermitted selling, but for possession of stolen goods.
Once you read 946 Laura sidewalk vending law then you understand the city is breaking the law. Most don’t care because they’re doing it to the poor.
https://youtu.be/UxxPVuxp-rQ
This is the future we watched movies about in the ’80s. But let’s be honest, even on our worst ‘Doom Loop’ day, we still outperform almost every city in America – and we do it with only 800,000 residents. That’s punching way above our weight.
Pissing in the wind is all they do .
Sadly reputable, creative licensed S.F. street vendors from long-ago era. Stolen stuff for sale is that – underground economy so confiscate IT! use policing for prosecutable crimes- EOS ok
Can’t the Public Works folks report any violence or threats to the police, using whatever information they’ve collected on the perpetrators (name, etc). Or even take a photo of them and provide to the police?
The district attorney is making excuses for murderers and assault with deadly weapons do you really think the district attorney is going to prosecute a terrorist threat or simple assault ?
“The district attorney is making excuses for murderers and assault with deadly weapons”
Huh. Where has she done that?
It’s about time they did something about this I think if vendors are going to be selling products out on the street should have some kind of permit specially food vendor’s they handle food, money and they don’t have any way of washing their hands or any sanitizer kits around making it very vulnerable for any one to get sick .