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MOBILE BUSINESSES Street Vendors Are Vital Local Businesses Community Love Them, We Love Community At Santa Ana Business Council we understand the essential role food and the food economy play in building stronger and more financially resilient communities. We also understand the importance of access to food culture to diverse communities and why and how assisting and fostering the food economy at all levels is important. It is our belief that street vending enlivens urban public spaces and increases public safety by making streets vibrant and welcoming, Promoting street vending can generate employment, keep people safe and create the vitality and comity that is the hallmark of livable humane cities. Fortunately, the cities municipal code allows for vendors within the Downtown District. "Downtown District. All public property and private property open to the public bounded by Ross Street on the west, First Street on the south, Civic Center Drive on the north, and French Street on the east." Santa Ana Municipal Code Chapter 26-1. THE SIDEWALK CARTS Downtown Santa Ana Hosts a series of sidewalk carts throughout the district and especially on 4th street in Downtown. Rivas Rodriguez and Jose Rodriguez are two of the handfull of food cart vendors in Downtown Santa Ana who have all worked in Downtown for many years. These dedicated vendors are what could be called Santa Ana's new old guard. They manage their food carts seven days a week on two corners of "Celle Cuatro " and are the eyes and ears on the street. They know everything that Is going on In Downtown. PALETEROS Our local Paleteros who sell everything from ice cream to delicious Mexican street corn are regularly savvy business people running careful operations on razor-thln margins, and the money that flows through this sector is a lifeline to people who often cannot find work or earn adequate wages in the formal economy. Paletero's should be given the some permission as all vendors who come into downtown. While many cities opened their Al Fresco Dining initiatives for restaurants they failed to make similar accommodations for street vendors who are regularly targeted for vending. The Palefero culture is important to downtown because if meets the idea of access and inclusion and allows for families at any level of income to be able to enjoy the Downtown district and provide for their family at whatever level they can afford. All options ought to be available to both locals and visitors to our city. FOOD TRUCKS in 2018 The city of Santa Ana conducted a pilot that became more permanent to open up opportunities for "food truck pads" or food truck islands, a groupings of food vending businesses clustered in a sort of outdoor food hall or food court to operate on city -owned as well as private properties. Private properties are able to apply through the planning department for a land use certificate and/or Special Event Permit for these pop -ups. The city looks at everything from possible security concerns to sanitation and general maintenance, and proximity to similar brick & mortar uses when making determinations about where the food trucks can be parked. CONTINUED ADVOCACY EFFORTS • Launching a small-business grant program for street vendors, • Identifying more open street spaces for vendors who cannot sustain their businesses in their usual location due to the loss of foot traffic, • And, finally, ending longstanding permitting issues that have regularly forced vendors to operate in an exploitative underground market.