for street vendors, LA is the city of the devils

Whether they're selling trinkets or tamales, the city of Los Angeles wants to do away with street vendors. The New York Times reports that the a new city ordinance that will prevent people selling things of "utilitarian value" from selling them on the street without a license will take effect next week. In the Westlake neighborhood, new signs warn that “street and sidewalk sales of goods are prohibited” and threaten violators with a $1,000 fine or time in jail, the paper reports. But getting a permit for one of the stalls in a new city-sponsored market that will only open on weekends costs $500. So vendors say they'd rather risk selling on the street.

“They can chase me wherever they want, I’ll go and hide someplace for a few minutes and then I will come back again,” Marta Cortez, 43, who has sold fruit and homemade hot chocolate on the street almost since the day she arrived here from El Salvador nearly two decades ago, told The Times. “This is how I make money for my family. If I go to a new market where I can only sell on the weekends, how can I have enough to give my children food to eat?”

--praise be to Zach for sending me the link--