Now that Labor Day has passed and the summer moratorium has ended, the controversy over the City’s new Sidewalk Vending Ordinance – and how much vendors are protected by free speech under it – has returned to the forefront.

For months, beach leaders banding together in a Coastal Coalition have attacked the City’s new Sidewalk Vending Ordinance, claiming it “has no teeth” due to the City’s reluctance to stand up to vendors threatening litigation, allowing them to take over the streets.

Now that the summer moratorium is over, there is renewed concern in communities like Mission Beach and Pacific Beach, where sidewalk vending remains a major issue, that the situation will only become worse.

Larry Webb, president of Mission Beach Town Council and a Coastal Coalition member, stressed that the City’s new Sidewalk Vending Ordinance is intended to reign vendors in limiting how and where they can operate. “Under the summer moratorium, there were only a very small number of areas where vending was actually legal in all of the coastal areas,” he pointed out adding, “First Amendment rights are the main issue.”

Webb noted the vending issue is expected to return to full San Diego City Council consideration by the end of September with “clarification on the First Amendment exemption and (ordinance) enforcement changes. The thing is, we don’t know what those changes are going to be,” he said.

Webb added the Coastal Coalition has a request for the City Council. “What we’re asking for right now is just some transparency from the City as to what the changes are going to actually be,” he said adding, “And ideally, we would like to see the ordinance enforced as written, which basically is, if you’re selling something – it’s vending, period, no matter what the product is.”

City supervising spokesperson Benny Cartwright said the new Sidewalk Vending Ordinance is in the process of being reassessed and revised. “The City has been enforcing the Sidewalk Vendor Ordinance citywide, including the city’s parks and beaches, since it went into effect in June 2022,” he said adding, “This includes enforcement by rangers from the Parks and Recreation Department and the San Diego Police Department. The ordinance, as written, needs clarity regarding what constitutes ‘vending’ vs. ‘free speech,’ which includes political and religious speech. There are some vendors who have exploited this lack of clarity in the definition of vending and are claiming First Amendment protection for the sale of goods.”

Venus Molina, chief of staff for District 2 Councilmember Jennifer Campbell, whose office drafted the City’s vending ordinance, concurred that legal definitions have become a problem with the ordinance and need to be worked through. But she pointed out the ordinance has been successful, and a step in the right direction. “There are now over 500 vendors permitted under the new ordinance, who are following the rules through the City, and are now in the formal economy,” she said. “And unfortunately, as with anything, there are some folks that will try to bypass, or skirt, the system one way or another. And the First Amendment (freedom of speech) is one of those tools they’re using to try to sneak in their vending.”

Consequently, Molina said the District 2 office is taking the lead on “making some amendments to the ordinance to strengthen it and provide some more clarity on what the First Amendment is, and what it is not, because there is a lot of very gray area with the First Amendment clouding over the Sidewalk Vending Ordinance. We’re working on clarifying the language to make it easier for enforcement to happen.”

Cartwright said Campbell, in collaboration with Mayor Todd Gloria’s office, will be bringing forward changes to the Sidewalk Vending Ordinance this fall. “These amendments will ensure there is no ambiguity on who is subject to regulation under the ordinance while improving our enforcement efforts,” he said. “This clarity will take the guesswork out of enforcement and ensure that the citations for ordinance violations don’t get thrown out by the administrative judges who adjudicate them.”

Cartwright noted that, while those clarifying amendments to the ordinance go through the legislative process, “the Parks and Recreation Department is going to create zones where those claiming ‘freedom of expression/speech’ can operate, similar to what Balboa Park has done for years prior to the state law requiring cities to allow sidewalk vending. The department has been engaging with park stakeholder groups such as the Parks and Recreation Board this month to let them know about the change.”

Molina reiterated that sidewalk vending is now legal under state law. “What we’re doing now is creating a structure that will allow them to vend in a more organized manner,” she concluded.

More information is available on street vending on the City’s website at sandiego.gov/city.