The neighborhood of Venice grapples with several very complicated issues. The boardwalk vending situation has been a lightning rod for litigation and controversy for many years. Take prime beachfront real estate, a free speech zone, one of the largest tourist areas in California in an area governed by The City of Los Angeles, and you already have a train wreck. Add in the attraction of the homeless to the area, narcotics sales and a “leave me alone I’m at the beach” attitude… and you have a litigious disaster. That is the Venice we have, and all those elements have brought the neighborhood to a boiling point that is looking for a first new step to significant relief in the approval of the new draft of 42.15, also known as the vending ordinance.
In plain language, here are the highlights of this complicated mess…
All along the Venice Beach Boardwalk are businesses that pay rent, utilities, taxes in the most business-unfriendly state in the union. They hire employees, pay workers comp & associated taxes, etc. to operate a business on the beach to earn a living. It requires overhead, insurance and money. The vending spaces on the boardwalk were never intended or allowed to be a spot where anyone could sell anything just by showing up at 9 a.m. - where others pay to own and maintain commercial businesses 18ft across Ocean Front Walk. For years there has been a slow creep of boardwalk vendors setting up in the daily open spaces selling items such as t-shirts, clothing, jewelry and other items which are prohibited under the language and spirit of the ordinance. Fundamentally, rules were in place to prohibit someone from setting up and selling items on the boardwalk with zero overhead that would take business away from legitimate registered businesses who pay a series of fees and taxes for the right to operate a commercial enterprise. But, of course, a claim that civil rights were violated and it sent the matter to court, and unfortunately as part of what seems to be the American way… strategies to keep the matter in litigation just opens the door for the status quo to be a free-for-all until the matter winds its way through court, just for the next round of litigation to be filed. With the bureaucratic blend of different City and County agencies overseeing different parts of park and law enforcement, the situation only becomes more complicated. So, where does that land us today?
After contentious litigation, what the boardwalk vendors “won” in the most recent court ruling was getting rid of the lottery system, and being allowed to have amplified music in any vending space. What bit them as a result of their suit was a 9th circuit judges ruling on “nominal utility” - which is now the case law by which the City is essentially eliminating more than half of what is sold on the boardwalk.
Thanks to Michael Hunt’s previous lawsuit against the City of Los Angeles - he tried to claim his shea butter had a religious message. He lost that lawsuit, and the 9th circuit court ruled that his shea butter is no different than the shea butter they sell at The Body Shop - and no “message” or religious claim makes shea butter any more, less or different than another shea butter. Shea butter has ”Nominal utility” which is legalese for an item having a “use” or “function” regardless of how it is presented or marketed. Michael Hunt and Matt Dowd lost that critical part of their suit… while at the same time landing legal precedence that put the nail in the coffin for every boardwalk vendor trying to slap a peace sign on a belt in an effort to claim it is religious messaging. The two sided battled between the term nominal utility and “inextricably intertwined” messages until that ruling which laid the foundation for this new draft of the 42.15 ordinance. So, at the end of the day what it means is that ALL items with a nominal utility can NOT be sold by boardwalk vendors. Clothing, jewelry, wind chimes, belts, hats, bongs - GONE. All of it. In addition “mass produced” paintings, artwork, art prints and things that normally involve health codes like food, hair cutting and henna tattoos also are no longer permitted. So, in essence, 90% of what currently exists along the boardwalk is going bye-bye per the terms of the new ordinance.
In wiping out all of the commercial vending or “nominal use” items sold on the boardwalk… the door is now open for the “free speech” and artists under the spirit of what the Venice boardwalk was originally intended. If you have a sheet of paper, and can eek out an amazing portrait of someone on the spot, Venice Beach is your place.
What this also means is that the homeless, who often use vending spaces to sell garbage they have collected out of trash cans, etc., or who make money by “holding” spaces for the vendors selling lucrative commercial items against the ordinance will also have NO outlet for these activities.
So lets go over a few other aspects of the “new” in the ordinance:
Bye bye Henna tattoos:
a. The application of substances to others’ skin, including but not limited to, paints, dyes and inks;
b. The provision of personal services such as massage or hair weaving, cutting or styling;
based on
(f) “Unregulated Vending of personal services has resulted in activities that are illegal and harmful to human health, including the offering of services by unlicensed Vendors of services for which a license is required by the State of California, physical assaults and the application of toxic chemicals to Persons;”
This was a shock to many when the draft was re-distributed this last weekend. Apparently rumors had spread that the Henna Tattoo guys used hair dye, when they use real Henna. Bottom line is it is a chemical, natural or otherwise, and is too risky for the City to not put under some kind of health code.
You can’t enclose a space. Period. You can only have an umbrella or cover that is upright, and you can’t hang anything from it to obstruct the view or create a “wall”. It can’t be over 8ft tall… and you can’t block off the sides… and you can’t lean an umbrella on its side to block the view of the beach anymore. Standing upright shade or umbrella under 8ft. Thats’ it.
It clarifies that you can’t set up tables and nonsense outside of the designated 205 spaces. So the people creeping into the pagodas and walkways are now gone. You have to be in a designated space, and that is IT. I like that one so much… here’s the whole line item:
G. No Person shall use or obstruct access to any City-owned or maintained property or equipment, including, but not limited to, street furniture, benches, planters, trash receptacles, Pagodas or other structures or equipment installed on public property, for Vending, Performing, or display of anything whatsoever.
and
(e) Unregulated Vending has resulted in the sale of stolen, defective or counterfeit merchandise. Regulation therefore is necessary to protect the public and the Boardwalk commercial life;
Noise violations just got stiffer too. First offense is $100. All subsequent offenses are $250 and possibility of 6 months in jail.
H. Noise Regulation for all Property on or Abutting the Boardwalk.
1. No Person whether on the Boardwalk or on private or public property abutting the Boardwalk shall create any noise, or allow the creation of any noise, which causes the noise level to exceed the following Lmax levels between 9:00 a.m. and Sunset:
(a) 75 dBA, when measured at a minimum distance of 25 feet from the source of the noise; or,
(b) 96 dBA, when measured at a minimum distance of one foot from the source of the noise.
When Lmax levels are measured for noise emanating from a building located on private property adjacent to the Boardwalk, the measurement shall be taken from the property line dividing the private property and the Boardwalk.
So, in a nutshell - commercial vending or selling “nominal use” items which are traditionally what the commercial businesses along the east side in the shops sell is now prohibited.
No food in “push carts” can be sold. Other than two spaces for giving food away, no more ice cream, fruit vending, coffee carts and hot corn.
What’s the trickle down? If you live here and visit the boardwalk often you know that there is a whole sub-industry of space reserving and selling. The vendors that sell “commercial” or “nominal utility” stuff make big bucks essentially by showing up and setting up a table - for free. With them being gone, they won’t be paying people, homeless or otherwise, to hold, squat in or reserve their space each day. So, get rid of the commercial vendors that should not be there anyway, and you get rid of the homeless hustle sub-industry of reserving spaces, camping out for spaces for the many who set up to sell prohibited items.
With the added inability for the homeless to set up and hustle anything for a buck… the attractiveness of the boardwalk for hustling money on that level goes away… and actually I think that accounts for a LOT of nonsense and police calls, and a generally unsavory atmosphere. Transients have fed off of the lack of enforcement of the vending rules. So if the boardwalk is no longer a “show up and hustle whatever you want” free-for-all, the attractive nuisance that came with the free-for-all will now be gone too, or diminished.
And finally:
5. Any Vendor conducting lawful Vending under Subsection D.2, above, must comply with applicable tax and licensing requirements.
Like that’s going to happen.
The key of course, is enforcement. I am sure this will be rolled out slowly and deliberately making sure everyone knows the rules, so the situation transitions smoothly.
If the City Council approves this, it will simply mark the bell for the next round of litigation. Perhaps during that next multi-year endeavor Venice will experience a more peaceful environment on Ocean Front Walk… and those vending spaces will be filled in with artists that fit and perform within the boundaries of the ordinance, bringing some truly different artistic diversity and creativity. Venice needs the change.
With Planet Blue, Anonymous and other “East Side” retailers going out of business, there is plenty of opportunity for the Rasta belt & cap guy and jewelry sales folks to rent or lease a retail space.
I’ll say another thing too, the city’s ordinances that prohibit hard working people from selling their own creations, handmade jewelry and arts and crafts are then supporting OUTSOURCING and the loss of wages and income to the American people. When a vendors makes his/her work here in AMERICA by his/her hands that says something and that creates business and American made products. The city’s ordinances thereby supports, “MADE IN CHINA” products that are also supporting sweat shop and unsafe/unfair labor practices. The L.A.P.D. is then enforcing these laws and once again destroying what once made America great, our GNP, we need to make and support American made work other than war and ammunition for guns and bombs. When handmade crafts and artists vendors sell work that work goes around the world and makes a statement. When people buy stuff made in “CHINA” it also say’s something. What do you believe and what do you say with your consumption? Stopping handmade products from being distributed should be a violation itself and I believe it is and will be evident the longer this goes on and people continue to write, blog and learn about what the corporations want to do to Venice Beach.
The businesses on the East side of the boardwalk almost ALL support “MADE IN CHINA” products, that’s what they do, they are strictly business owners and have care for the QUALITY OF LIFE of the typical local or tourist coming through venice. They only care about profits and so does the city which is reflected in their support of “MADE IN CHINA” products by supporting the EAST SIDE stores and shops. Those shops should be subject to the same scrutiny the vendors are subject to, also alcohol should not be sold in Venice Beach if people are really so concerned about violence and homelessness, why is their a LIQUOR store on every block? I support the BAN OF ALCOHOL SALES ON VENICE BEACH! PERIOD! Liquor makes money so that is out of the question right, but honestly think, if there were no more liquor sales on the boardwalk period at any store, only in restaurants and bars, I KNOW for a fact there would be less violence and mayhem in Venice. BAN ALCOHOL and Ticket and shut down all EAST SIDE stores that offer Liquor for sale.
This is exciting news! I hope for Esty type goods on the boardwalk and great performances without the drugs and danger!
First of all what bothers me is that the police don’t do their job. There are laws against drunkenness in public, violence, littering, among other laws that prevent most of what the locals and tourist feel threatened by. Why do the cops not enforce these laws already on the books. Also it’s very easy to determine commercial vendors from non-commercial free expressive artist and craftsmen/women. It’s pretty simple, other cities have programs that allow hand craft artist, painters, musicians to perform and vend that allows them to express themselves within the framework of the Constitution. I believe there is something more going on that is purely economic and has nothing to do with freedom or quality of life for the locals or tourist. The city doesn’t care about the people it works for it only cares about it’s special interest economic payoffs through lobbying and corporate kick backs that are influencing the venice beach ordinances. I can walk to Venice right now and find drunks and people loitering with shopping carts and piles of trash, why can’t the cops find these people and either offer them help through city funded programs to get them off the streets and or last resort arrest them for public drunkenness and or lewdness which is rampant in Venice, this is so blatant what they are doing. It’s almost as if the cops let things get crazy and out of hand just so they can say, “see it’s the vendors” then place an ordinance that doesn’t do anything but restrict vending but does nothing to help with the public mayhem that goes on still. If the commercial vending would stop then so would a lot of the trouble, there are people TODAY selling art they bought downtown and are now selling it in Venice. There should be a permit that is free but that allows people to create their work on site in front of the tourist and locals that can only be granted to any performer or vendor who can produce their work on the SPOT! People love to watch the handcrafted artist, painters and musicians do their work. How simple is that? If it’s all about free expression on the spot, then let’s do that. That would get ride of many of the commercial vendors and bullsh*t painters who buy their art downtown and resell it in Venice.
Good luck Katie, there is still alcohol sold openly on the boardwalk, anybody with money and an ID can buy as much alcohol as they want and drink it right out in the open with a paper bag wrapped around it. Stop the Alcohol sales and then you might see some peace in Venice.
It’s about time they finally get rid of the commercial items on the west side!! Hopefully the west side commercial vendors can start being creative by painting, photography, sculpting, or other forms of ART or ENTERTAINMENT!!
I got a really kewl hand crochet hat there at a mans table in 2010 for $12 and it felt like a steal. I think craftsmen should be able to sell things they make or that aren’t easily available in one of the retail stores on the other side. People love that kind of thing and even those west side tables are a part of the charm of Venice beach so be careful Venice.
Vivianne, that would be great however we need to stop commercial vending all together in venice, also in the shops, the shops support, “MADE IN CHINA” products and that isn’t good for our economy, we need to shut down the commercial sales and liquor sales along the Venice Boardwalk.
I grew up in Venice, and not much has really changed about the boardwalk…except perhaps the astronomical rent retailers pay.
Though I agree the transient “show up and camp out” sidewalk vendors among other displays (or even spectacles, more accurately) do get out of hand, it’s also part of Venice’s history and what makes it unique. My friends and family come from out of town to Venice to see the performers, smell the incense, join the drum circle, and have a few interactions with an eccentric transient. The rent paying retailers may actually have these people to thank for some of their business.
I think there should be actual enforced ordinances that make it fair for the rent paying retailers and businesses, but still allow Venice to be Venice.
Greed drives rent prices far higher than they should be, and this perhaps a huge part of the root of this all. Perhaps building owners would like the Venice boardwalk to be more like 3rd Street Promenade, but I would consider that rather tragic.
It seems to be the nature of every popular area in Los Angeles to attempt to be increasingly more and more profitable, but with that comes excluding a lot of people. To be honest, if I want to sip green tea lattes while carrying an 80$ yoga mat into Anthropolgie, I’ll go to Santa Monica.
this is actually better for the artists and the ‘uniqueness’ of venice. there used to be art and handmade goods on the boardwalk, now there is a bunch of people selling made in china trinkets that you could get anywhere…I think its good that they are going to finally attempt to enforce those rules