CORONA - A straw sombrero dangled from the chipped handles of Roberto Sanchez Lagunas' ice cream cart at Corona City Park as he sifted through a tattered leather wallet looking for a Mexican identification card.
The 35-year-old vendor said in Spanish that he wants to peddle legally in the city but only has a Mexican identification card and not a Social Security number, which the Police Department told him is required to get a peddler's permit.
Under a city ordinance passed July 1, the city can seize carts from illegal vendors such as Sanchez.
Unlicensed food peddlers are a growing problem, Inland health and law enforcement officials say, due in part to the economy. Corona officials say that because of budget cuts, Riverside County health officials who have the authority to seize unlicensed push-carts are no longer out on Corona's streets.
The City Council passed its ordinance to give city officials the authority to confiscate the carts from vendors without a $150 city business license and a $100 peddler's permit.
""We've already impounded two ice cream carts,"" said Joanne Coletta, Corona's community development director.
City officials said they need to be able to enforce their regulations to ensure vendors are not selling unsafe food to the public.
Some street vendors prepare food in their homes, such as corn with mayonnaise or fruit sprinkled with chile powder, then sell it on the streets. Others, such as ice cream vendors, come from outside the county and are [drop]ped off at points throughout the city with their carts, then picked up at the end of the day.
Most work for someone else and earn 50 percent of their sales, said vendors on Corona's streets. If their carts are seized, they are not charged by the owner for the loss.
Corona does not have statistics on how many push-cart vendors are in the city or how many have been cited. One vendor estimated there are about 100 people selling ice cream from push-carts in the city. Police said they have two peddler's permits on file, and both are for ice cream trucks, not push-carts.
From November 2006 to March 2009, Riverside County's Department of Environmental Health responded to about 900 complaints of unpermitted vending, said Keith Jones, the agency's deputy director.
But budget cuts forced the county to eliminate that enforcement team, said Dottie Merki, Riverside County supervising environmental health specialist.
As vendors have become aware of the county's reduced enforcement, Merki said, ""We have seen a pretty dramatic rise in complaints coming in.""
While most cities have their own ordinances to stop illegal peddlers, Merki said, ""many of them don't have the funding or the manpower to address them, either.""
HEALTH concerns
Health officials said it's not always clear to the public why unlicensed vendors pose a risk, and they may see the issue as people being deprived of their livelihood.
Francisco Casares, who bought a lemon ice cream bar for $1 from Sanchez at City Park on Thursday, said he believes the law should affect only home-cooked items, not items such as ice cream that come in wrappers, and should apply only to the employer, not the employees.
""It's very unjust for these people. They don't have identification. ... It's the responsibility of the company, not the people who are selling,"" Casares said in Spanish.
Officials cite two reasons for reining in illegal vendors: public health and fairness.
""It's a health concern. ... We're just trying to do what we need to do to protect our public welfare,"" said Coletta, Corona's community development director.
Coletta was not aware of any reports of people sickened by food from street vendors.
Corwin Porter, the public health program manager for San Bernardino County, said food-borne illnesses are often underreported, and the ones that are reported are difficult to track to their source.
In Riverside and San Bernardino counties, health workers check to see whether carts have proper temperature controls and employees have a place to wash their hands. Without such safeguards, the risk increases that the food could make customers sick, Merki said.
In Colton, where peddling rules were changed in 2006, officials were concerned about fruit vendors, Colton police Lt. Bill Burrows said.
""We have no (way) to know where the fruit is coming from"" and whether it's safe, he said.
Burrows and other officials also said unlicensed vendors have an unfair advantage over businesses that followed the rules by meeting health standards and paying taxes and permit fees.
San Jacinto tightened its rules in October to crack down on unlicensed vendors who came from out of town to hawk flowers and fruit on street corners. Then-Mayor Jim Ayres said the city likely was missing out on sales taxes from those transactions.
GETTING LICENSED
Veteran street vendor Anatolia Ibanez, wiping sweat from her brow beneath a wide-brimmed straw hat, said that after 16 years selling ice cream, she doesn't have a peddling license because she doesn't have California ID or a Social Security card.
In Corona, push-cart vendors must obtain a business license from the city, which does not require identification, and a peddler's permit from the Police Department, which requires a background check. The form also asks for a Social Security number.
""I was going to apply, if they let us use our Mexican Consulate ID. But they don't want to let us use that,"" said Ibanez, 46, in Spanish. ""They should always give us a chance to work.""
Corona police Capt. Ray Cota said a Social Security number is not required as long as vendors can be identified and a background check can be conducted.
Riverside County requires a valid government-issued ID, but it doesn't have to be from the U.S., Merki said.
Porter, from San Bernardino County, said officials there look only at the vending operation when granting a permit. ""We don't get involved in any aspect of whether they're a legal resident,"" he said.
CARTS IMPOUNDED
Coletta said since Corona's ordinance took effect, city enforcement officials have been issuing misdemeanor citations to unlicensed vendors who have identification.
Carts are seized from unlicensed vendors without identification, and the vendors are advised to tell their employers of the permitting requirements to get the carts back, she said.
So far, no one has returned for the two carts impounded -- and they're not likely to, if Colton's experience is any example.
Colton officials changed their regulations in 2006 so the city could confiscate unpermitted carts. That enforcement power reduced the number of vendors, Burrows said.
""Prior to that ordinance, all we would do is cite that vendor and they would ... move a few blocks and continue selling,"" he said.
Now, Burrows said, the owners who employ the vendors have to deal with the city if they want their carts back, but they rarely do.
""They usually abandon them, and we have to destroy them,"" he said.
Reach Leslie Parrilla at 951-368-9644 or
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