City teams keep vendors away from 16th and 24th street BART plazas

In the week since a ban on vending went into effect, the 16th and 24th Street BART plazas remain free of vendors — as long as the tag teams consisting of two police officers and two Public Works staff are present. The teams move along any vendors that have gathered in the morning and for the first time in months, the plazas have been clear for most of the day. 

What’s less clear is what happened to the 100 or so vendors who formed an association to oppose or delay the vending ban. A few are on side streets not covered by the ban. Even fewer are in the two sanctioned sites the city has rented. 

Those at 2137 Mission St. — meant to accommodate 43 vendors, but rarely attracting more than eight during this first week — are frustrated by the lack of customers and sales. Papel picado hangs from the ceiling, and a stuffed reindeer greets visitors at the door, but the taped-off empty vending spots make the space feel like a party that has yet to begin. 

“There are no people,” said Maria, who has staffed her stall of toiletries and lingerie since Nov. 27, when the ban began and the site opened. “They’re out there on the street.”

At times, Maria and her fellow vendors go out to the sidewalk to encourage pedestrians, but those efforts have not made much difference. On Sunday, she had sold only $30 worth of merchandise. 

Maneul Solero, another vendor inside, had only sold three items, and those, he said, were purchased by a city supervisor who stopped in. 

“I haven’t heard anything about assistance,” he said, except that there might be some for women with children. “And men don’t have children?” he asked. 

The city is paying $100,000 in rent for vendors to use 2137 Mission St. during the 90-day ban. It is clean and well-kept, but simply lacks activity — and vendors.

“Until people know we are here, we won’t have customers,” said Franco, who sells speakers and other electronic equipment. He had made $80 the entire week. 

Still, he remained confident. “This will get better in a couple of weeks,” he said as two customers approached his table and asked after prices. They left after hearing the speakers cost $40 each.

The Mayor’s Office of  Economic and Workforce Development, which is overseeing the two sanctioned spots, did not respond to an interview request. 

The second sanctioned spot at Capp and 24th Street has room for nine vendors, but it has yet to hit capacity. 

“I keep telling people, it’s like the beginning of the pandemic, if in the morning it’s one type of news, and by the afternoon that’s changed,” said Susana Rojas, executive director of Calle 24, referring to the rules imposed on the vendors. 

Rojas said vendors must apply for a spot inside one of the two sanctioned spots. 

They can also apply to Public Works to sell in zones that are not banned.  In the months leading up to the ban, Rojas helped vendors apply for permits to sell on the street, but those no longer work on Mission Street during the 90-day ban.

Efforts appear to be underway to get more customers into the sanctioned sites. The Latino Task Force has developed fliers to advertise the spaces and, earlier in the week, a DJ played music at the 24th Street site to attract visitors.

Sales on the street

Most of the sales activity, however, is still on the street.

The vending activity on Mission Street between 16th and 24th streets comes and goes, depending on how recently a third team from public works and the SFPD has patrolled. The teams are on duty at the plazas and along Mission Street from 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. on weekdays and 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on weekends. But on the first weekend, they remained at the plazas from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. 

On Thursday afternoon, seven vendors sold small items from paper bags, suitcases, or a backpack. An hour later, they were gone

It’s clear by the random and scant articles for sale — pens, pencils, a pair of tennis shoes — that few of the vendors remaining on the street would be likely candidates for a space inside the city-run markets. They seem more intent on making a fast sale than waiting patiently for customers to come inside and browse.

On Sunday, like others inside at 2137 Mission St., Franco wandered toward the front door to see what was happening on the sidewalk.  

He could see at least five vendors nearby, ignoring the ban and selling random items spread in front of them. One woman selling used clothing appeared to be doing a brisk business. 

By Monday afternoon, many more such vendors had found spots on Mission Street. Between 1 and 2 p.m., we counted some 16 vendors scattered between 15th and 24th Streets.

A former vendor sitting, sans goods, between 16th and 17th streets said she failed to get a space at 24th Street. She said that, for now, she is not doing anything. 

A few feet away from her sat Pedro Sanchez, an unhoused and undocumented man with a tiny table of random goods before him — a bottle of mustard, an iPad, comic books, a wallet — items he said in Spanish he purchases from “the thieves.” 

“For me, it’s not a crime to do this,” said Sanchez, adding that he has been working this way for years, making a few hundred dollars each month, and prefers this to stealing or begging. “A crime would be robbery. A crime would be assault with a pistol.” 

If he got asked to move, he would move, Sanchez said, but if he got a citation for illegal vending, he said it wouldn’t matter — he simply wouldn’t pay it. 

Where some vendors have gone

On Sunday, four vendors had set up on 24th Street near Capp Street, and another two on Capp Street. A woman on 24th Street said they had been given permission to be there, and the stalls of Artesania looked orderly; each had a red awning. 

On Monday morning, Justo Garcia, who generally sells vintage items on Mission Street, had set up shop near Ritual Coffee on Valencia Street. He said it was busy during the weekend, but on weekdays, he said, “people are in a rush” and do not stop as often.

The clients, he added, were different as well. On Mission Street, his customers are largely Latinx; on Valencia, mostly, he said in Spanish, “Americans and foreigners.” Their ways of doing business also differ. On Mission Street, it is cash, but on Valencia Street “there is very little cash.” His Valencia Street customers want to use Apple Pay or a credit card, and he’s not yet set up for that. 

Monday on Mission Street, one vendor sold blankets from the back of his van. He said it was all wholesale and that, so far, officers had not bothered him. He wants to find a space of his own, and has no interest in becoming part of the indoor market. 

“It’s just better,” he said, to have a space of his own. He is talking to someone about a small space for $2,000 a month. 

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Eleni Balakrishnan contributed reporting to this article.

We have been checking Mission Street since the vending ban was enacted on Nov. 27 and documenting when and where vendors, police officers and Public Works staff show up. The maps below will be updated throughout the week, with stories to follow.

16th St. Mission BART Plaza

24th St. Mission BART Plaza