Protecting Street Vendors
Protecting Local Street Vendors in our Communities !
By: Carlos Gomez
Civic Engagement:
According to the American Psychological Association.org civic engagement "encompasses a range of specific activities such as working in a soup kitchen, serving on a neighborhood association, writing a letter to an elected official or voting. Indeed, an underlying principal of our approach is that an engaged citizen should have the ability, agency and opportunity to move comfortably among these various types of civic acts." Another definition of civic engagement by Youth.gov defines Civic Engagement as "involving working to make a difference in the civic life of one’s community and developing the combination of knowledge, skills, values and motivation to make that difference. It means promoting the quality of life in a community, through both political and non-political processes." My personal definition of civic engagement is the betterment of ones community through acts of service pertaining to community service, and aiding others. The issue I am focusing on is the protection of local community street vendors due to the fact that not only have me and family interacted with street vendors weekly but have also witnessed discriminatory acts of violence on our local vendors.
Research:
According to CSV.org (California Street Vendors.org) Local Street vendors throughout Los Angeles are being targeted by individuals, mistreated, and marginalized both by local law restrictions and outdated food law and regulations. On top of facing discrimination and racism by random individuals street vendors are also unfairly persecuted by outdated government restrictions and local laws aimed at vendors specifically. Project for Public Spaces. org (PPS.org) is fighting back and giving legal aid to street vendors through the "Street Vendor Project " the goal of the project is to help "organize vendors and provide them with legal aid, providing an example of on-the-ground, grassroots organizing and advocacy." Although recent documentation of the potential hate crimes street vendors are forced to deal with have sky rocketed according to The Bureau of Justice Assistance. gov, one can say the discrimination has always been prevalent and the act of documenting these attacks has only been improved.
Personal: Why does this social issue matter to me?
This issue affects me personally due to the fact that I have been around street vendors most of my life and have interacted with them almost weekly since I could remember but I also have close friends whose family members are street vendors themselves. I stated earlier that not only have I been around street vendors but my family and I have also witnessed acts of discrimination specifically targeted at street vendors by hateful individuals. This act of hate made me realize how important street vendors are to my community and how vulnerable some of these people are, which is why I am taking this opportunity to really shed some light on this subject.
Gathering Evidence:
Question in the Community: How do you feel about street vendors? Have you ever experienced any hate towards street vendors and if so what do you think could be done to help prevent it?
Alyssa Pajimula
Statement: "I love street vendors I try and buy something from them every time I have cash especially the fruits cups, I personally never experienced or seen anyone attacking street vendors I hope to never see that really. I think if street vendors had some sort of self defense tool like pepper spray or some sort of alarm to help draw attention that would be good, or at least try and sell in well populated/ light area where other people can see them."
Gloria Corrales
Statement: "I buy something from them every now and again usually the fruit I do not trust the street dogs, yes unfortunately some drunk guy started messing with them but others around the vendor helped out and got the police to step in I left before anything else happened they seams to have it handled. I think the police should be around to at least watch them or something maybe have security I am not too sure, people should just not mess with them they are just trying to make money like the rest of us. "
Juan Gomez
Statement: "Yeah I get some hot dogs sometimes or the nachos just whatever is cheaper, I haven't seen anything but some friends of mine have mostly dumb people messing around throwing food or knocking stuff over. They should probably start putting hands on people who do that I mean I get not wanting to fight dumb people but if they are messing with your way of making a living then I would get physical but thats just me."
Work Cited
Resilient communities: Street vendors project. Bureau of Justice Assistance. (n.d.). https://bja.ojp.gov/funding/awards/15pbja-23-gg-04177-adva
Civic engagement. Civic Engagement | Youth.gov. (n.d.). https://youth.gov/youth-topics/civic-engagement-and-volunteering#_ftn
American Psychological Association. (n.d.). Civic engagement. American Psychological Association. https://www.apa.org/education-career/undergrad/civic-engagement
Protecting street vendors for stronger market cities. RSS. (n.d.). https://www.pps.org/article/protecting-street-vendors-for-stronger-market-cities
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