Bishop
provided impetus for action
Bruno’s dream of vending district
now reality in
MacArthur Park
These days when Dina Serrano sells tamales
from her cart in MacArthur Park, she no longer fears getting caught
and being fined.
In an effort to establish some controls
and regulations over street vending activities the Los Angeles City
Council passed a Sidewalk Vending Ordinance in 1999 that created the
opportunity for interested organizations to create special vending
districts in commercially zoned areas for street vendors.
For three years no community organization
took responsibility for implementing a vending district. As a
result, street vendors were left with little hope that sidewalk
vending would be legally permitted in the city.
Stepping into the leadership void, Bishop
Jon Bruno in 1999 took matters into his own hands and the MacArthur
Park Sidewalk Vending Program was created.
Bruno spent the first couple of years
after the sidewalk-vending program was initiated willing to be a
collaborative partner with other community agencies in the creation
of a vending district. But when no other agency came forward, Bruno
proposed to the city’s elected officials and staff that the diocese
would create the first sidewalk-vending program with the support of
the Institute for Urban Research and Development, a diocesan
institution.
Bruno stated that “time was running out,
and either the Diocese became the lead organization, or nobody
would.” Together, Bruno and IURD Executive Director Dr. Joe Colletti
launched the city’s first sidewalk vending district in November of
1999 at MacArthur Park.
The MacArthur Park Sidewalk Vending
Program now provides street vendors with an opportunity to apply
their vending skills. Currently, there are 20 beautifully
constructed carts modeled after the carts that are found within
Santa Monica’s Third Street Promenade. Vendors sell hot foods such
as tamales and folk art and crafts from several Latin American
countries.
Serrano, a Salvadoran-born immigrant, now
sells her tamales from one of the program’s vending carts.
Previously, however, she would sell her tamales on the streets and,
as a result, became a frequent target of the city’s code enforcement
agencies.
Several times she has cried out of
feelings of sadness and joy; she still remembers all the times that
her tamales were taken away from her, and left in her possession was
a court citation. “Now,” she says, “I can sell all the tamales I can
without expecting someone to suddenly confront me and take all my
food and supplies from me. I even bring my children with me who help
me set up my cart and foods.”
Bruno and Colletti have spent the past
two years building a coalition of public and private community
support for the vending program. Such support includes the Office of
the Mayor and the Council Office of Ed Reyes as well as several City
Departments including the Community Development Department and Los
Angeles Police Department Rampart Division.
Bruno also participated in the recent
ribbon cutting for Mama’s Hot Tamales Café at 2124 W. Seventh St.
(one block west of Alvarado Street). The café is open
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