Salinas begins cracking down on an increased presence of unpermitted street food vendors.

Over the past few months, Salinas residents have seen an increase in street vendors in high-traffic areas, including food trucks. This can make it easy to grab a bite to eat, but also comes with issues. Residents have been calling city officials to report things like litter and oil on the streets.

On Monday, April 22, the Salinas Police Department announced officers had shut down seven illegal street vendors over the weekend of April 20-21 after receiving complaints.

“It’s not about trying to impact anybody in a negative way. It’s just about making sure we’re looking out for the health and safety of our community,” says Sophia Rome, community relations manager for Salinas. Permitted vendors echoed that message on Tuesday, April 23 during a meeting of Salinas City Council.

Unpermitted vendors operate mainly on weekends at busy corners such as East Alisal and North Sanborn near Cardenas Market, or North Main Street and Boronda, by Northridge Mall. According to police, they aren’t local and some come from as far away as the Central Valley.

“They arrive and set up in a caravan throughout the Alisal,” Jesus Perez says in Spanish. Perez owns La Paloma, a food truck that sells tacos and seafood on Griffin Street.

For Perez, the issue is lack of regulations. He fears customers could get ill from eating at unpermitted locations and regulated businesses would be blamed. He pays about $2,000 per year in city and county permits, including health and fire inspections to make sure his truck is clean, the fridge is properly cold and fire extinguishers are working.

Perez notes he isn’t against entrepreneurship. “The sun shines for everyone,” he says. “They also have the right to sell.”