Street VendorS’ Quest for a Permit

making a comfortable living off his street vending, but this isn’t necessarily the case with every vendor.

J.B. Higgins is another street vendor without a permit but he doesn’t sell alcohol or unpackaged food. He’s a photographer who sets up his table at many of the city’s art fairs to sell prints of the scenes he captures within San Francisco.

Higgins has been taking photos since 1977 and has recently decided to make some money through his hobby. His application process came to a halt when he lost the email address he originally applied with. Qualifying for a permit might seem like a simple checklist of requirements but unexpected issues like this can slow or even stop the process. Thankfully, Higgins’s street vending is a secondary source of income, unlike many vendors.

“This is a side hustle, but sometimes I’ll make enough money for this to be my main gig,” Higgins said.

Estella Estrella sells makeup, beauty creams and boxes of hair dye on the sidewalk of Mission Street. As a full-time vendor, Estrella is much more reliant on the profits from vending compared to Higgins. According to her, the daily profits from street vending can fluctuate dramatically.

“Sometimes it’s $100, sometimes $40 or $50, sometimes nothing,” Estrella said.

Estrella is one of these legitimate vendors who was able to obtain a street vending permit. She got her permit with the help of Calle 24, a Mission-based nonprofit that helps local Latinx business owners with the process of applying for a street vending permit. Although Estrella is now fully permitted, she still has to keep track of all business-related documents. She’s been ticketed several times after failing to show receipts of where she purchased her products.

Although Higgins and Molina haven’t been able to obtain street vending permits, the city has issued close to 200 permits since Mayor London Breed signed the street vending legislation in July 2022, according to San Francisco’s Department of Public Works Deputy Director of Policy and Communications, Beth Rubenstein.

Down the block from Estrella, Manuel Lopez sells a variety of “Mexican cravings” such as elote, chicharrones preparados and tostilocos. He also received a permit with the help of Calle 24. Like Estrella, he has sometimes been punished for failing to adhere to the rules of the street vendor permit. Even after successfully receiving permits, street vendors have to be mindful of all of the accompanying rules and regulations.

“The health department sometimes throws out our stuff… you need to have all the food covered in ice and sometimes we just forget the ice,” Lopez said.

Although the city recognizes the presence of unpermitted street vendors, there has not been any assessment of the exact number of them. According to Rubenstein, unpermitted street vendors can get wary when asked about their permit status, which makes getting an estimated number of unpermitted vendors difficult.

“We believe that there are many who are selling stolen goods and therefore would not be interested [in obtaining a permit],” Rubenstein said.

The city’s attitude is not to chastise and punish unpermitted vendors, but to educate them.

“Our inspection teams work first to educate vendors. When asked, if a vendor doesn’t have a permit, we talk to them about the process of obtaining one,” Rubenstein said.

By preventing the sale of stolen goods and enforcing health regulations on food and drink vendors, issuing permits to street vendors has made neighborhoods cleaner and safer.

“From our work with community groups, legitimate vendors have welcomed the program as it makes their neighborhoods safer and sidewalks and Muni stops more accessible,” Rubenstein said.

In the heart of the Mission, the surrounding streets are spotted with canopy tents and fold-out tables belonging to street vendors. T-shirts and jeans are strung up on clotheslines for passing pedestrians to inspect, tortillas sizzle in pans of hot oil and jewelry is spread out on plaid-covered tables.

In the heart of the Mission, the surrounding streets are spotted with canopy tents and fold-out tables belonging to street vendors. T-shirts and jeans are strung up on clotheslines for passing pedestrians to inspect, tortillas sizzle in pans of hot oil and jewelry is spread out on plaid-covered tables.