On a warm Tuesday morning outside of San Diego Superior Court, Pete Soto cooks hot dogs at his Brooklyn Dogs street cart.
He and his family have been selling from a street cart in San Diego for over two decades.
“During the day we're here now, and at night we head to Civic Center,” he said.
While Soto pays rent to sell food at the Civic Center location, he said that after police stopped enforcing San Diego’s sidewalk vending regulations, dozens of other vendors began selling there.
Due to the influx, he stopped earning as much money, he said.
“At nighttime with the shows there we get swamped with 50 to 60 carts in one night. They take over the whole plaza; police can't enforce it because they were told to stand down,” Soto said.
He said the other vendors don’t appear to be following health department rules.
“They just have a little thing and a propane tank and no refrigeration like we do. And they get away with it,” Soto said.
He said his yellow and blue umbrella setup is fully compliant with the law. They have a health permit and food handlers license, business license and pay sales tax.
“This is a legal hot dog cart. This is what the city and state and health department requires,” Soto said.
Back in 2018, the state decriminalized sidewalk vending and authorized cities to adopt requirements for public safety.
San Diego passed its street vendor ordinance in 2022. It regulates the time, place, and manner in which street vendor businesses can operate.
But Michael Trimble, executive director of the Gaslamp Quarter Association, which represents downtown restaurants, hotels and other businesses, said enforcement has been inconsistent from the start and no longer exists.
“We’ve seen hot dog carts on fire; we've seen people spill hot dogs on the ground, pick them up and serve the public,” he said.
Under the city’s ordinance, the Gaslamp Quarter is designated a “no vending zone.” But no one is stopping vendors from selling in the district now, Trimble said.
“During the evening from 10 p.m. until the bar break, there are 50, 60, sometimes even 100 vendors all down 5th and 6th avenue and the cross streets,” Trimble said. “They leave their grease and whatever they’ve been selling and their waste, dump it in the storm drains, dump it on the sidewalk and leave.”
City of San Diego spokesperson Nicole Darling said street vendor “enforcement is paused due to a legal challenge and court order to cease enforcement of the City’s ordinance.”
She did not specify how long the pause has been in effect or confirm details of the legal challenge and court order.
The San Diego Police Department said court orders have limited what officers can do to enforce street vending laws.
“Because most street vending violations are administrative, not criminal, officers also have fewer enforcement options available to them,” SDPD spokesperson Ashley Nicholes said.
The department is also experiencing staffing shortages, she said.
Without enforcement, Soto said his business is suffering.
“They need to enforce. They need to do something. These people are killing all the small businesses down here. Nobody cares,” he said
Trimble, who is with the Gaslamp Association, thinks the only way forward is to change state law.
“Add a larger enforcement element back into SB 946 that says if you're vending in a no-vending zone without a permit, license you could be subject to a misdemeanor,” he said.
