As brick-and-mortar businesses continue to close their doors, Los Angeles County is spending $1.78 million on free food carts for sidewalk vendors—a move critics say rewards rule-breakers and prioritizes people in the country illegally over law-abiding business owners.
The funding will provide vendors with free, health code-compliant food carts, permit assistance, grants of up to $5,000 to cover permitting costs, and access to the county’s Microenterprise Home Kitchen Operation program, which allows eligible vendors to use their homes as commissaries.
County officials say the goal is to help vendors meet health and safety requirements and transition into the formal economy.
Critics argue the county is using taxpayer dollars to help vendors come into compliance while restaurants and other small businesses that have already paid for permits, inspections, rent, insurance, and regulatory costs receive no comparable assistance.
The investment quickly sparked backlash online, including from former Los Angeles mayoral candidate Spencer Pratt, who criticized the county’s priorities.
Similar concerns also have been raised by business leaders.
In a May interview with Fox 11 Los Angeles, Roozbeh Farahanipour, CEO of the West Los Angeles Chamber of Commerce, said street vendors operating outside restaurants create “unfair competition.”
“They get a waiver from the state. The state allows them to do that,” Farahanipour said. “In Westwood, we are seeing more than 20 small businesses close recently. Citywide, way more than that.”
Lisa Cusack, chair of the Los Angeles County Republican Party’s 44th Assembly District, told the Daily Signal that the county is “taxing the businesses for their own funeral.”
“You’re taking taxes away from the restaurants and giving it straight to their competition, which already has an unfair advantage,” she said.
Cusack, whose father operates a hamburger stand in Temescal Canyon, said his business faces layers of county taxes and fees while sidewalk vendors are allowed to set up nearby without many of the same costs.
“California and LA, of course, just have so many business taxes, but then if you’re on county property, they add extra taxes—and then, meanwhile, they just allow the vendors to set up shop right behind him,” she said.
“We know these people are illegal. And it makes it harder for legal immigrants, because my dad’s a legal immigrant.”
Asked what message the program sends to businesses already following the law, Cusack said, “It’s not worth doing business in LA.”
County officials say the program serves a different purpose, arguing it improves food safety while helping vendors transition into the formal economy.
“This program helps vendors transition into the formal economy with the tools and support needed to operate safely and grow their businesses,” Los Angeles County Supervisor Hilda Solis said.
Second District Supervisor Holly J. Mitchell also defended the program, saying many vendors are facing “increasingly difficult and uncertain times due to cruel federal immigration actions,” and describing the initiative as an investment in “small business growth, economic stability, and even generational wealth.”
Roxanne Hoge, chair of the Republican Party of Los Angeles County, told the Daily Signal that Mitchell’s comments about federal immigration actions amount to an acknowledgment that the program is prioritizing people who entered the country illegally over law-abiding Americans.
“This is saying the quiet part out loud—not only do they want to punish producers on a regular basis, [but also] they really want to reward people who jump the line and who are, by the way, not paying fees and taxes and dealing with regulations,” she said.
“Everything LA one-party rule does is about coddling criminals and rule-breakers and punishing producers. The message is very clear: If you follow the rules, you pay your taxes, you get permits—whether to set up a business or to renovate your home—you’re a chump.”
Hoge said the county’s priorities send the wrong message to businesses that have followed the law.
“America does not reward cheaters. But LA County does, and I don’t understand why people don’t care more about that.”
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[ H/T The Daily Signal ]
