An LA Crackdown

I live in the Korea Town area of Los Angeles. The area where I live is mostly inhabited by immigrants from El Salvador. On 8th street, between Normandie and Irolo there are about 15 different families selling food and other goods out of illegal street carts. This is a very typical type of business in El Salvador, but frowned on in L.A. due to regulation created in order to fight obesity.

See: http://www.lewis.ucla.edu/publications/studentreports/Final42006lG-StreetVendors_pdf.pdf

On Saturday I was riding my bike to the grocery store when I saw a large crowd gathered. Upon riding up to the street I saw police cars lining the street between Normandie and Irolo. I rode around and took pictures as police and health workers tore down the individual stands and placed the capital goods in trash bags. The carts were loaded up onto trucks, and the food was thrown into a dump truck which pulled up after I arrived.

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=173703&id=509605258&l=219e916075

The general mood of the crowd was pretty downbeat. I heard several curses muttered towards the police officers, not from the vendors, but from the people watching. The majority of vendors on this street are Salvadorean immigrants and rely on the sales from these carts as their entire income.

Many will be forced to hire an attorney, and several will have to spend two months in jail — during which time they will not be able to provide for their families. The carts which were confiscated represented months of savings. They will not be able to start providing for their families until they save up again enough to invest in new capital goods — a daunting task in light of how behind they will be on bills after attorney’s fees and spending time in jail.

Tonight (Sunday) I returned to 8th street and took the following pictures:

 http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=173991&id=509605258&l=3cc6631ef5

One picture is of a family who is selling goods donated from the local market. Another family up the street is selling donuts which were donated from the bakery on the corner. These people have no other source of income, and it was both heart-breaking and inspiring to see the community have to pitch in to help these poor families out.

Another picture is of a local taco truck owner. He owns a taco truck which operates, legally, on one side of 8th street. He opened this brand new stand on the other end of 8th street tonight. He now has a near monopoly over the street. I believe that monopoly was in effect granted to him by the LAPD and the LADPH, and the fact that he was more privileged than his competition.

Hope this helps,

Rocky