SAN FRANCISCO (CN) — Mayor London Breed, along with state Senator Scott Wiener, unveiled a state bill Monday afternoon that would permit San Francisco police to crack down on the fencing of stolen goods at sidewalk markets in the city.
Senate Bill 925 allows the city to create a list of commonly stolen items and require any vendor in the city to obtain a permit to sell goods on the list. Violators will be given a citation for their first two offenses, but could face a misdemeanor and up to six months in jail for a third offense. Vendors can prove an item is not stolen by showing documentation, such as a purchase receipt.
The list of prohibited items will be created by the Board of Supervisors, with help from the San Francisco Police Department and the Department of Public Works.
Breed and Wiener say that illegal street vending has created unsafe street conditions and health and safety hazards across San Francisco that affect residents, business owners and legitimate street merchants. A San Francisco bill that would give illegal vendors 10 minutes to disperse before their goods are confiscated and they are cited has already passed first reading by the Board of Supervisors in April.
“In San Francisco we are working hard to make our streets safer and more welcoming for all,” Breed said in a statement. “SB 925 would greatly help us get a handle on the sale of stolen goods, all while taking a narrow approach that specifically targets bad actors. I would like to thank Senator Wiener for authoring this legislation and helping us gain an effective tool to address fencing here in San Francisco.”
SB246, the “Safe Sidewalks Act,” legalized street vending in California in 2018, but San Francisco officials have argued that the law has led to a proliferation of illegal vendors selling stolen goods throughout the city. Still, Breed and Wiener maintain that SB925 is only to deter fencers and will not punish legitimate street vendors that are an integral part of the city’s culture.
“San Francisco’s vibrant culture of street vending supports many families and showcases the diversity of our communities. But that cultural richness is threatened when bad actors are allowed to openly sell stolen goods on our streets, often pushing out legitimate street vendors and undermining public safety,” Wiener said in a statement. “With this bill we’re taking a balanced approach that respects the critical role street vending plays in our community while holding fencing operations accountable for the disruption they cause. It’s critical that everyone feel safe on our streets, including street vendors and neighborhood residents.”
Fencing operations and unsafe conditions along the streets in the Mission District led the city to issue a 90-day ban on street vending on Mission Street in November. That 90-day ban was then extended to Aug. 22, a decision that was driven by data that showed improvements in the neighborhood, including a 30% decrease in assaults and robberies and 23% decrease in 311 service requests for street cleaning, according to the mayor.
San Francisco intends to bring back permitted vending along Mission Street and is currently working on a phased pilot project to allow a limited number of permitted street vendors to return to a stretch of the street while the city continues to assess how the area can remain safe.
“Our neighborhood residents, permitted street vendors, transit riders and small businesses deserve safe sidewalks along our commercial corridors,” said Supervisor Hillary Ronen, who represents the Mission neighborhood and proposed the initial ban. “This state bill provides San Francisco an essential tool in tackling the rampant sale of stolen goods and bringing order and renewed vibrancy to our neighborhoods.”
Ronen’s office told the San Francisco Chronicle that it intends to introduce a resolution Tuesday that would signal the Board of Supervisors’ support for the bill.
The bill will now go before policy committees, and could end up in front of Governor Gavin Newsom before the end of the year.