With few options, San Mateo tries to minimize street vending complaints

“That act was a big change. It decriminalized all sidewalk vending activities, so even if there was a violation you could only cite it as an administrative citation, which is a fine,” Code Enforcement Manager Eugene Alper said. “In addition to decriminalizing this, the Sidewalk Vendor Act has basically allowed sidewalk vending to take place almost everywhere, with some minor exceptions.”

But the council and residents have raised concern over the increasing number of food vendors — often found in the North Central neighborhood. Elpers said code enforcement received at least 50 complaints between last summer and this summer, and the police department has received roughly 90 calls for service related to food trucks in that time period.

“People who have to live with an open air kitchen or a food truck opening up across the street from you deal with real issues — safety issues, noise issues, light issues,” Kevin Simpson said. “We had grease dumped in the street … we had sidewalks blocked.”

The City Council recommended strengthening enforcement of existing policies where possible, which would mostly apply to food trucks. But because that mostly involves parking enforcement — such as 72-hour parking limits and a 10-minute maximum on selling food in one spot — that could come with higher staffing costs to the city.

“This is a quality-of-life issue in North Central,” Councilmember Nicole Fernandez said.

Issuing citations aren’t that effective either, Police Chief Ed Barberini added.

“They simply pay the tickets. It’s not much of a deterrent,” he said.

Other cities in the county such as San Bruno, Burlingame and Pacifica have passed some food vending regulations that are still in compliance with state law. They often involve setting maximum distances to restrooms and minimum distances from certain locations and events, such as schools and farmers’ markets. The council also said it would be in favor of trying to advocate for updating vending legislation at the state level.

“We need to be more actively engaged with our state representatives to see what changes can be made at the state level,” Councilmember Lisa Diaz Nash said. “Are there any other cities that would be interested in this because we probably can’t change state law on our own but I can’t imagine we’re the only city in all of California that has these issues.”