Crimes against Fresno street vendors go ‘underreported.’ Has COVID-19 pandemic made it worse?
This story is part of the Central Valley News Collaborative — a bilingual, community journalism project funded by the Central Valley Community Foundation and with technology and training support from Microsoft Corp. The collaboration includes The Fresno Bee, Valley Public Radio, Vida en el Valle, Radio Bilingüe and the Institute for Media & Public Trust at Fresno State.
After years selling clothes, Mexican goods and household items on the streets of Calwa, street vendor Angelita Rodriguez has called it quits.
Three months ago, a man approached her stand in the majority Latino community just south of Fresno and expressed interest in buying some Mexican blankets, she said. But the situation escalated when she began showing him different options. He grabbed as many as he could and ran off, she said, robbing her of her most expensive items.
Though she wasn’t physically harmed, Rodriguez said, the encounter left her feeling anxious and helpless. What unsettled her more, she added, was that her infant granddaughter was with her at the time. Now, she sells goods from her home, but the threat of someone hurting her or her family has left her unsure when or if she will return to the streets.
“I was very scared, and it really affected me,” Rodriguez said in Spanish. “I panicked, and I haven’t been out since.”
But Rodriguez didn’t report the incident to the police, an occurrence advocates say is all too common.
While Fresno police say there were six incidents involving street vendors across the city last year, including the killings of 49-year old Francisco Velasquez and 53-year-old Jose Rivera, advocates estimate many crimes, such as assaults and robberies, go unreported.
“Street vendor crime is definitely underreported,” said Ashley Rojas, executive director of the Southeast Fresno nonprofit Barrios Unidos.
The safety of vendors is getting increased attention in Fresno following the execution-style murder of elotero Lorenzo Perez, who was fatally shot March 21 while working. The killing prompted an outcry of support and outrage from the community, who called on both city and police officials to act in defense of street vendors. City leaders are now in the midst of creating a plan that would create more robust protections, while community advocates develop a strategy to equip vendors with self-defense resources.
Vendors risk physical assault, robbery
There are an estimated 125 street vendors in the city of Fresno, according to Fresno City Councilmember Luis Chavez. Many are undocumented immigrants, who earn subsistence wages selling Mexican street food, candy, ice cream and other items.
The job is dangerous, said Alexandria Ramos-O’Casey, a longtime community organizer based in Southeast Fresno. She said Latino street vendors regularly face attacks and robberies.
“Folks are risking physical assault, robbery, and just a general lack of respect — it’s important for us to just remember that,” said Ramos-O’Casey. “They’re just working hard and trying to survive. They’re just trying to take care of their families, they’re trying to take care of themselves.”
Rocío Rosales, an assistant professor of sociology at UC Irvine and the author of a book about fruit vendors in Southern California, said the pandemic has made vendors even more vulnerable.
Many of the places where vendors stand near public transportation and banking centers have had less foot traffic during the pandemic, she said. With less people on the streets, she said, they’ve not only lost income but also the safety that comes from being in a well-trafficked place.
“Their presence on street corners, carrying cash, combined with the economic downturn that we’re taking because of COVID, I think is creating a perfect storm,” Rosales said. “People who are in need of money, who are getting a little desperate, who might not be able to make ends meet anymore because they’ve been out of work, come across street vendors, who seem very vulnerable.”
While some vendors feel comfortable reporting incidents to law enforcement, she said, others are unlikely to do so, either because they lack the necessary documentation for their cart or because they themselves are undocumented.
“There’s a general sentiment that usually nothing comes from it — it’s not like the money is ever recovered,” she added.
Rojas, of Barrios Unidos, agreed that many vendors view reporting crimes as futile.
“Often the events cannot be policed because they don’t have enough information to report or the people get away and there’s nothing that can be done, which is why we need to engage as a community to keep vendors safe,” she added.
City-sponsored association aims to make vendors feel safer
That’s why Chavez, who represents the area where Perez was killed, is forming a city-sponsored street vendor association. He said the program, called the Food Vendor Association, will provide better protections for the city’s vendors by equipping them with sirens and cameras.
The Fresno City Council is slated to consider allocating about $150,000 in funding for the association at its meeting on April 8, Chavez said.
“They would be able to join for free and have the benefits of the association so they can feel a little bit safer,” he said.
Chavez also is calling for increased police presence in the communities where vendors work and a streamlined permitting process so vendors can operate legally. He hopes these efforts will encourage street vendors to report crimes to the police.
“They would be able to get their paperwork in order, so that they feel more comfortable reporting any incident or robbery or attempted robbery,” he said. “They want more police officers to patrol their neighborhoods and make sure they keep them safe.”
Still, some advocates say police presence and other safety measures alone don’t get to the root of the problem. To create better conditions for street vendors, local leaders must “invest in the systems” that make vendors “feel like they’re part of society,” said Rudy Espinoza, executive director of Inclusive Action for the City, a Los Angeles-based street vendor advocacy group.
“There has been no meaningful investment in many cities to support these entrepreneurs — they’re already vulnerable,” Espinoza said. “Vendors are not going to the police to ask for help because they’re afraid of getting cited, so where do they turn to?”
While a 2018 state law decriminalizes street vending, other regulations — like the California Retail Food Code — make it difficult for vendors to gain certification, said Doug Smith, an attorney at Public Counsel, a public interest law firm in Los Angeles. A little more than 100 of the 10,000 vendors selling food in Los Angeles County are permitted to do so, estimated Smith, who provides legal and policy support to a coalition known as the L.A. Street Vendor Campaign.
Espinoza said the city of Los Angeles has invested less money in education and outreach regarding street vendor permits and more in enforcement. Chavez said officers would not be actively enforcing the use of permits, but Espinoza still worries Fresno will follow in the footsteps of cities like Los Angeles.
“Instead of getting armed officers to enforce the rules, perhaps we need to invest in multilingual education resources, perhaps you have to invest in a community-based organization to go out and support vendors to make sure that they feel safe,” Espinoza said.
Advocates provide pepper spray, protection
Fresno community advocates aren’t waiting for the City Council to act. They have launched community patrols and are helping vendors better defend themselves, by arming them with pepper spray and other self-defense tools.
“We are a unified community when we’re able to have that recognition of what we need to do to protect one another,” Ramos-O’Casey said. “We have folks from all over the state here in our community ready to be here and put bodies in front of our vendors to make sure that they are physically and mentally and emotionally protected.”
For Rodriguez, those protections would mean she could stop living in fear.
“I am praying God will give me the strength to move on,” she said. “I have to keep moving forward, because there isn’t another option.”
She hopes she can return to vending to continue sending money to her loved ones in her hometown of Las Palmas in Michoacán, Mexico.
“We’re just looking for a better life,” Rodriguez said. “I need to help my people, they need me. I am afraid, but I’m gaining strength.”
Valley Public Radio reporter Madi Bolaños contributed to this report.
This story is part of the Central Valley News Collaborative, which is supported by the Central Valley Community Foundation with technology and training support by Microsoft Corp.
This story was originally published April 2, 2021 at 5:00 AM.