Guest opinion
Why the city adopted Ordinance 1109
By Paul Miller Mayor of Simi Valley

The Acorn has taken issue with the City Council's recent decision to regulate peddling activity on city streets and sidewalks, saying the new law will not improve our community. I must take issue with The Acorn's position.

In adopting Ordinance 1109, the City Council was responding to concerns of the local business community that peddlers could unabashedly use public streets and sidewalks to set up a competitive enterprise directly in front of a longstanding "brick and mortar" business, without needing to do anything but pick up a license (no test involved) at City Hall.

Meanwhile the "brick and mortar" business was required to get the same licenses, plus rent or buy a location, get a zone clearance to ensure proper zoning, provide adequate parking and handicap access, get building permits and inspections to provide a safe environment for their customers, provide a specified number of seats, provide restrooms of adequate size for their business, allow source control inspections of their waste stream, etc.

And now that the flower shop owners, for example, have done all of the above and possibly spent significant advertising dollars to bring people to their business, they find a flower vendor selling flowers to their customers on the sidewalk right in front of their store!

And what about the hot-dog business owner who invested significant sums that he or she may have scraped together over a lifetime to open a "brick and mortar" business, and the hot-dog cart parks legally right next to their driveway every day at noon on the city street (no rent needed). Is this fair? I don't think so.

While I am a believer in a minimalist government, I do believe that government has a proper role to protect and to serve the members of our small business community who constitute the backbone of our local economy.

Beyond these economic considerations, there are public safety and personal property issues that guided the City Council to enact the ordinance. Peddlers often position themselves in areas not designed for business transactions, placing the public at risk by creating traffic hazards, disrupting traffic flow and distracting drivers. Some will park in front of homes or businesses for extended periods of time. They cannot provide parking, restrooms or trash containers.

In presenting its case, The Acorn paints a picture of a poor mother of four selling flowers by the freeway being deemed a lawbreaker. Let's be clear. The ordinance will not prevent individuals, properly licensed, from selling goods.

What it does is specify the manner in which these sales may be made, so that they are conducted safely and without negative impacts on the community. I doubt anyone, if being objective, would quarrel with guidelines that are designed to be protective of the public health and safety.

The Acorn calls on the city to enforce existing laws before enacting new ones. Current requirements that a vendor obtain a business tax certificate and solicitor's permit do nothing to address the very matters the City Council is concerned about- traffic flow, property impacts and personal safety. That is precisely why there was a need to craft such an ordinance as the one the City Council adopted.

I would hope that, upon further review and reflection, The Acorn will better understand the basis and necessity for regulating peddling and will reconsider its opinion on passage of the ordinance.