City officials are facing criticism online after conducting a sweep on street vendors without permits along the St. Claude Avenue corridor over the weekend.
Several public agencies Friday night raided the area after posting warning signs two days earlier, scattering vendors and crowds in a neighborhood known for its robust nightlife.
According to the city, the police department issued two citations, one open-carry handgun permit check and an arrest on a warrant. The fire department issued two summons, four citations, a warning and a business closure for grilling food in the rear of a business.
The city’s Office of Nighttime Economy director Howie Kaplan wrote in an Instagram post the coordinated illegal vendor sweep was an effort to promote “safety and compliance” and “mitigate negative impacts to local businesses and the public.”
But public backlash was almost immediate, and more than 800 people took to the comment section on the social media post announcing the sweep, mostly to blast City Hall.
“A vendor sweep? People trying to make a living when homelessness numbers are skyrocketing? Why the hell is this how our resources are being spent?” wrote user @meghan.matt.
DJ Otto, who regularly gigs at late-night bars in the area, wrote, “This is an absolute insult to the real people of New Orleans. These vendors are drumming up economy and business in a positive way for all businesses present. Let’s not mask this as anything else besides a baseless agenda to push out the backbone of our culture to make room for higher rent and corporate bullshit.”
Kaplan defended the city’s actions, arguing the effort between police officers, firefighters, and other city and state enforcement agencies was long overdue.
He told Gambit despite the enforcement presence, it was to serve as more of a warning for vendors to get the proper permits, than to punish them.
“The goal wasn’t to go in there to write a ticket or catch them doing something wrong; it was to send a message that it’s gotten out of hand,” Kaplan said, noting the number of trucks and tents that block visibility around the neutral ground.
According to Kaplan, St. Claude Avenue bar and venue owners, hospitality workers and neighbors had been complaining about noise, illegal trash dumping and growing public safety concerns over large crowds of people who have been parking and gathering on the neutral ground and obstructing traffic until the wee hours of the morning.
Kaplan said he had gone out to the neutral ground to urge vendors to get into compliance with local laws and has tried to help get them in touch with the proper agencies.
“We’re not just talking about shutting down someone sitting on a sidewalk in their food truck, trying to make a living,” Kaplan said. “These are people selling stuff out of the back of their cars in the middle of the street. A lot of these guys are setting up directly in front of businesses, then smoking the businesses out.”
Kaplan said public safety also has been a deepening concern. He said he had spoken with a bar owner who had a gun pulled on him after arguing with a street vendor who was blocking the entrance to his business.
He also pointed to an uptick in car and cyclist accidents, including mortalities, in the area. "People are blocking the right of way, and people can’t see,” he said. “There have been accidents on a frequent basis."
Some, including service industry workers in the area, say the food vendors aren’t taking away business from the nearby food establishments. They argue many local restaurants and permitted pop-ups are closed by the time the late-night street cooks get underway.
“There are already so few late night food options in a city where so many folks are service industry and work late,” wrote one bartender. “These small businesses deserve access to the local late night tourist economy too.”
Others view the sweep as an unfair punishment for people trying to earn a living in a city that has become increasingly unaffordable and where obtaining a vendor permit can be a confusing and difficult endeavor.
Wrote one user, “Street food is one of the last promising hopes in the culinary scene here and we chose to attack it rather than address actual issues ... A lot of people gotta hustle like this just to get the start-up cash. These are working people. The real criminals get funding for public works that never get completed. This is lame.”
Kaplan — whose role was established to connect people who drive the nighttime economy with policymakers — doesn’t dispute that street vending is an integral part of New Orleans culture.
He says the sweep will drive further discussion at City Hall about public safety along the St. Claude corridor, as well as the overall permitting process, which has been nebulous for decades.
"Vending is a huge part of our culture,” Kaplan said. “No one here is advocating for the end of vending — far from it. We spend a lot of time to make ways to make vending legal.”
