San Francisco police will soon be able to cite, and even arrest, illegal street vendors who are caught selling potentially stolen items. During the Board of Supervisors meeting Tuesday night, supervisors advanced a new ordinance meant to crack down on stolen items being resold by unlicensed stree t vendors. “Vendors are a vital component of The Mission’s small business community and vibrancy. And so I’m casting my vote today in support of them,” said District 9 Supervisor Jackie Fielder. “I think we can take this item as same house, same call, without objection the ordinance is passed on first reading.” As Fielder noted, this has been something legal street vendors have been pushing for. But it’s taken years to carve out a special exception to a state law that was passed in 2018, restricting local police from citing street vendors. In September, Senator Scott Wiener was able to successfully guide a special amendment through the state legislature, and it was signed into law. Assuming the local ordinance gets through a second reading and Mayor Daniel Lurie signs it, legal street vendors like Tito Ledesma, with the Street Vendors Association, say they’ll breathe a sigh of relief. He says the outlaw street vendors sell products at lower prices than they do because he has to source legal items from wholesalers, and get a city permit and a business license. Over the last few years, the street vending business has become more dangerous and even deadly as confrontations between legal and illegal vendors have broken out. The final vote on the new ordinance is scheduled for next Tuesday, and it’s expected to pass. Included in the new ordinance is a list of about 100 commonly stolen items that are then re-sold, including meat products, jumper cables and all manner of tools. Vendors who don’t have receipts for re-sale will be in violation of this new ordinance, and after multiple citations, those illegal vendors could even be arrested and charged with misdemeanor. A spokesperson for the Department of Public Works, which had been the city department that cites vendors, said the city is working on a public awareness campaign, to make sure people know what the new rules are with this new ordinance. Enforcement by SFPD is expected to begin at the start of the new year. ...read more read less