Gregg Kettles's blog

Last week the Maryland Attorney General issued an opinion that a Gaithersburg, MD prohibition on certain kinds of roadside solicitation is invalid.

A year ago Gaithersburg enacted an ordinance prohibiting pedestrians on the sidewalk or in the roadway from soliciting employment from automobiles. The city cited the risk of traffic accidents posed by day laborers hustling work from passing motorists. The state attorney general acknowledged these concerns, but believed that the city had gone too far toward addressing them.

One problem with the ordinance was that it was pre-empted by state law. The state of Maryland already regulates solicitations by pedestrians from standing in a roadway, intersection, or median divider. Further, the state legislature made clear its intention that these rules would be uniform state-wide, and not subject to patch-work ordinances by local governments.

This past week the New York Times reported that some groups representing New York City's Korean-owned small grocery stores object to a proposal to license 1000 fruit and vegetable carts-- Green Carts-- in parts of the city where little produce is consumed. These objectors demand that if any licenses are granted, that grocery store owners be given preference.

Any time the government restricts the number of entrants to a market, the question inevitably arises whether the "right" people are being excluded. Before settling on a licensing scheme for its Green Cart program, New York might want to consider the experience of Los Angeles, California. There sidewalk vending is generally illegal, and has been for decades. About 10 years ago Los Angeles faced growing numbers of illegal vendors and decided to establish a place where they could ply their trade legally, in MacArthur Park. The city made room for as many as 30 vendors, but the number of illegal vendors who wanted to "go straight" far exceeded that. How did Los Angeles pick the lucky 30?

The city council of Detroit, Michigan recently loosened restrictions on sidewalk vending in the Motor City. Previously vending was limited to certain areas-- downtown and the Wayne State University area-- and vendors were limited to vending only hot dogs, balloons, flowers, fruit, hand-drawn portraits or caricatures, and snack foods. Now vendors will be allowed to apply for licenses to sell anywhere in the city, and the list of approved items has been expanded to include handbags, sunglasses and wallets, crafts, coffee, clothing, and fragrances and incense.

The new law drew protest from a number of merchants. They shouldn't worry. Vending in Detroit remains highly regulated. A vendor may not sell within 100 feet of a competing business, and is required to provide a trash receptacle for customers and pick up all trash (whatever the source) within 15 feet of her vending spot. Vendors are prohibited from interfering with the movement of pedestrians or blocking storefront display windows.

Cities continue to be stymied in their efforts to control where day laborers seek work. Southhampton Village, New York recently built a circular driveway in a public park so that employers could have a place to pick up workers without leaving their vehicles and without slowing traffic on the street. But neighbors sued, claiming that to use a park for anything but recreation was unlawful. The court agreed, forcing the city to go back to square one.

On the other coast, Baldwin Park, a Los Angeles suburb, barred day laborers from soliciting work in parking lots and sidewalks unless they left a 3-foot buffer for pedestrians. But the Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund, "MALDEF," a public interest organization, sued on behalf of the laborers. In granting a temporary restraining order against the city, the court found that the ordinance violated the First Amendment, which bars government discrimination against certain kinds of speech (here commercial speech) absent a compelling government interest. The news reports are a little unclear, but it appears that the 3-foot buffer amounted to a de facto ban on soliciation from the sidewalks of the city.

New Yorkers may see 1500 new fruit and vegetable vending carts over the next several years-- if Mayor Michael Bloomberg and City Council Speaker Christine Quinn win approval of their plan. Today's New York Times reports that currently there are 4100 mobile food carts operating in the city, but only 10% sell fresh fruit and vegetables.
The point is to encourage healthy eating by city residents.

One might think that this is another example of the rich getting richer. After all, New York City is one of the most densely populated cities in the U.S. Many residents live without a car, relying on public transportation and walking. But even with all that exercise, it seems that some people aren't getting their 5 servings a day. The Green Cart program would bring fruit and veggie carts to city neighborhoods that have particularly low fruit and vegetable consumption rates.