A group of 10 permitted vendors will return to Mission Street Friday morning in at least the fourth attempt to regulate vending in a way that keeps the Mission from being overrun, but allows some vendors to make money.
The pilot program comes seven months after City Hall approved a street vending ban along Mission Street from 14th Street to Cesar Chavez Street, which was extended until August.
The Mayor’s Office said that the 10 permitted vendors — six on the east side and four on the west side — will be allowed to set up shop on Mission Street between 23rd and 24th streets. The vendors, selected by a city-run lottery, will be allowed to operate from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. They will be easily identifiable with clear “Mission Street vendor” branding in different places, including canopies and uniforms.
The ban, enacted on Nov. 27, 2023, came after the city tried several other tactics to rid the sidewalks of vending around the BART plazas. The latter became so thick with vendors that transit riders had difficulty making their way through the plazas.
The first effort to clear the plazas involved barricades, which failed completely. The second involved vending permits, which failed to dissuade unpermitted vendors, and the third came in November with the complete ban, which also created two designated spaces for vendors to sell their wares.
Today, seven months after the start of the ban, the vendors are gone as long as the police and Department of Public Works staff are present at the two plazas — but the selling of dodgy goods on Mission Street is far from being over. And vending resumes at the plazas if police and DPW staff are not on site.
When the ban started, City Hall tried to accommodate the more than 100 permitted vendors affected by the new law at two designated markets: El Tiangue at 2137 Mission St., which closed in mid-April for lack of business, and La Placita at 1 Lilac Street.
The plan, however, has not worked as anticipated. Few licensed vendors set up shop and those that did say they have lost as much as 90 percent of their business as a result of the ban.
Mission Local reported last month that sales at La Placita remained low despite initial hopes that the transition of vendors from El Tiangue would increase foot traffic.
Despite bitter complaints from vendors of anemic sales, the city extended the initial three-month ban by six months to August, arguing that “positive results” of the ban included a reduction in calls requesting street cleaning and police services.
The vending ban has become a political topic in District’s 9 supervisorial race. Julian Bermudez, h brown and Jackie Fielder said they oppose the ban, while Jaime Gutierrez supports it. Trevor Chandler, Stephen Torres and Roberto Hernandez all gave inconclusive answers.
But, it has come up at the forums as well with few solutions offered.
And how many city employees will it need to run this project? Whose friends will get the jobs? What random stuff will be sold?What tax money will be collected?The useless SF government allowed the chaotic situation to occur.This only clutters sidewalks and makes SF look crappy.
Can’t enforce properly, so they give in. What a crock of sh!t. We, the people of the Mission deserve better than to have stolen merchandise openly peddled on the streets
And all these people bringing your young kids through there, buying laundry soap for $3 less than the store, what are you really teaching those kids?
If the police took their goods, they wouldn’t come back. But here in San Francisco, taking the stolen goods away is “ruining their livelihoods”
This city is so far backwards from reality.
I’m trying to square this story with reality. There were dozens and dozens of vendors selling stolen goods just yesterday at both the 24th and 16th street BART plazas .
If I’m a shop on Mission Street, I don’t want competition from people with zero overhead. There’s a new “dollar” store in the old Giant Value space. If the street is going to be the new dollar store, they should just close down.
It’s wild to me that we make policy this way. Either we want sidewalk retail or we don’t.
That block has been hellish still. Now will be unwalkable again.
This is another half-assed effort to not enforce the law or to enforce it selectively. Allowing 10 vendors by lottery will anger others who secured permits and will do nothing to prevent illegal vendors of stolen goods from selling. Ronen and the city have allowed this to go on for so long that they have effectively given up and left us to deal with the consequences.
Sigh.
Allowing vendors to hawk dubiously acquired bottles of crap shampoo from sidewalk-blocking blankets does not improve quality of life in the Mission; quite the opposite. It’s ugly, and drives away tourists and people form other neighborhoods who might otherwise visit us for our sunshine, colorful ambience, thought-provoking murals and delicious food. Remember when the Mission was a popular hangout?
At the BART plaza, there used to be just a few stands, and they sold homemade food and Latin American trinkets. Local musicians played for tips. I’d be delighted to see all of that return. Those previous vendors kept things CLEAN, too. Why does this new form of vending result in so much litter?
I do feel for people trying to make a living, but suspect that there might be other, better-paying work available. A few blocks away at the SF Day Laborer Program, people earn $30-$40/ hour. I wish the city would help connect these people with work such as childcare, home healthcare, yard work, etc.
The city should allow a few vendors, but set criteria: Only well-organized stands selling unique items that add to the flavor of the Mission should be granted permits. And as for people who really, really want to buy crap shampoo? Try the nearest dollar store.
Mission local, I know you are alt-left, but you need to stop calling these thieves “vendors”.
Hi Ted —
People who go through the city’s rigmarole and obtain vending permits are not “thieves.”
Mission Local is not “alt-left,” whatever that means.
With all due respect, the things you don’t know could fit in a warehouse.
Best,
JE
Jaime Gutierrez – the only one that seems to have any common sense!
Thanks for reporting on this. It seems SF has complete amnesia when it comes to what works and what doesn’t – vending permits are what created the mess in the first place.
Nobody would be complaining if vending on Mission were like vending in Mexico, tlacoyos, huaraches and quesadillas fresh off of the comal, washed down with a jamaica.
‘tired of morons’ must be a troll as SF has been a place for street vendors for decades. they are part of the fabric of our community.
desperation from the pandemic made it a necessary for many people to start street vending to support their families. it has been easy to malign them with accusations of selling stolen property. has anyone ever provided proof yet?
you likely don’t have to face the same struggle for shelter and food.
you should count the blessings not to have anyone dropping a bomb on your street…yet.
war is over (if you want it).
The 24th street BART plaza was a very lively, chaotic place with music, religious zealots yelling, dodgy stuff bought and sold, people everywhere. But the nouveau riche were scared by so many uncontrolled people, and whined to their paid-for politicians because they wanted it to be like downtown Palo Alto. So the politicians jumped and came up with the best top-down police state options they had: Fences, bans, cops, permits, and “designated markets”.
If you want it to be like Palo Alto or Walnut Creek, go there: It’s still as dull as it ever was. Try to make SF be like that and you’ll kill the vibrancy of the city and destroy the legitimate retailers too.
This is nonsense,
My dog and I barked and bitched enough to get the fencing moved from around two sides of the Armory and counting the front, with the Super Wide Sidewalks (they have turrets for throwing down boiling oil and gun slits behind 3 foot brick walls) …
Once they removed that fencing if I can ever get DPW to move the Attendant Toilet around to the Front of the Armory you can paint 50 six foot deep by ten foot wide Vendor Stall outlines on the sidewalk and put names off the Vendor List on everyone and artists and masseurs and fortune tellers would come from all over the City to sell their wares awaiting for the Ohlone/City Casino to open inside.
lol
h.
The 24th Street BART plaza is so much better than a year ago, so I think the vendor ban has been effective for Lower 24th Street — not great, but better. However, Wednesday afternoon at 5:15pm, people were in the 16th Street BART Plaza selling stolen goods as per usual.
Permitted vending for food and handmade goods should be supported and encouraged in the BART plazas, and the police should just do their basic job by confiscating all stolen goods and citing anyone without a permit.
This shouldn’t be rocket science, people…
“Permitted vending for food and handmade goods should be supported and encouraged in the BART plazas”
Why? This just hurts brick and mortar retail that is already struggling.