Monterey’s amended sidewalk vending ordinance goes into effect – sort of.

The City of Monterey’s updated sidewalk vending ordinance went into effect on Thursday, Sept. 4, and so far, everything has been drama free. Possibly, it’s because the City hasn’t tried to enforce it yet.

Monterey City Council approved the amended ordinance Aug. 5 after discussing the issue at length; it first approved an amended ordinance April 15, but after pushback from vendors, made slight adjustments.

Among the changes now that the ordinance is in effect is that vendor spaces are limited to 8 feet by 4 feet – 32 square feet – and markings on the sidewalk roughly form rectangles for vendors to set up their wares.

For husband-and-wife team Jim Burns and India Weeks, who sell tie-dye T-shirts, that reduces their footprint by what he claims is a loss of 95 percent of their space. They haven’t yet complied with the amended ordinance, and don’t plan to.

“We’ll just keep setting up,” Burns says. “They don’t have any way to enforce their ordinance.” Burns says he’s ready to sue if they do: “We have to show harm before we have legal standing, so we have to wait until they issue tickets.”

One issue, he says, is the amendments were passed for the ostensible reason of health and safety, though also to preserve views of the waterfront. But Burns and other vendors think it’s all related to the business interests on Fisherman’s Wharf – they say there is no evidence of any safety incidents related to the vendors since they were allowed to start operating in 2019, in keeping with state law.

Monterey planner Levi Hill, who worked on the amended ordinance, says the city’s code enforcement is typically complaint-driven, but that the City will be “somewhat proactive” with enforcing the new amendments.

The City of Monterey has only a single code enforcement officer, Rory Lakind. When the Weekly dialed Lakind’s number on Sept. 4, his voicemail message said he would be out of the office until Sept. 15.

On Monday, Sept. 8, just one vendor table is set up at the wharf – husband-and-wife team Shai and Mira Nissim, who sell jewelry, some of which they and their kids make themselves. They’re complying with the ordinance – or trying to, at least – and have lost at least half of their previous footprint.

Mira says the new ordinance is a nightly topic of concern at their family dinner table in Carmel Valley, and they hope they can keep making ends meet.