Recent fruit vendor arrests could push new laws

Driving the news: Ald. Andre Vasquez and other Immigrant and Refugee Rights committee members recently questioned police about why they've taken this new approach to street vending.

• The main explanation: "a lot of calls … to 911" — about fruit selling.

What they're saying: "The main area that I received phone calls and 911 calls are along Michigan Avenue as well as Museum Campus during events at Soldier Field in Northerly Island," 1st District CPD commander Sheamus Mannion told the committee.

The other side: "There are things you could be working on [like] violent crime as opposed to somebody trying to sell a mango to someone," said Vasquez, who chairs the Immigrant and Refugee Rights committee.

So who ordered the new protocol? City leaders deny involvementt.

• "The increase in enforcement that has been seen recently is not coming from the mayor's office," said Beatriz Ponce de Leon, deputy mayor for immigrant migrant and refugee rights.
• A business department spokesperson tells Axios its inspectors reprimand businesses with various administrative notices but have no arrest authority.
• Downtown Ald. Brendan Reilly tells Axios he's gotten complaints about Michigan Avenue fruit vendors, snake handlers, souvenir sellers and liquor carts, but has always handled them the same way: by forwarding the info to corresponding departments for administrative action — not criminal arrest.

The intrigue: So if the move was largely driven by "a lot" of fruit-related 911 calls, how many are we talking about?

• The number of 911 calls that prompted the crackdown remains unclear. Axios filed a public records request seeking the data and is awaiting a response.

In the meantime: Some vendors are getting a reprieve. When 19 appeared in court this month on charges of unlicensed vending, Judge Joseph Gump dismissed their cases, Block Club reported.

• And Chicago's law department made its stance clear, telling Axios, "Following a review of the evidence, the city determined the cases should be dismissed pursuant to prosecutorial discretion."

Yes, but: Even under an immigrant-friendly mayoral administration, fruit vendors still face fundamental hurdles.

• At the hearing, Maria Orozco of the Street Vendors Association said her mom has paid $10,000 in tickets over the last decade because no Chicago license covers the kind of freshly prepared fruits and vegetables she sells.

State of play: Current law requires vendors to cut and pre-package all their food in licensed kitchens before hitting the streets and forbids seasoning anything to order — even with salt.

• This makes that freshly sliced mango with chile and lime or custom-seasoned ear of corn with butter and salt illegal.
• Vendors say pre-packaging increases waste and hampers freshness and transparency. They are allowed to give customers individual condiment packets, but few do.

Zoom out: Last year, California overcame these hurdles with a law allowing vendors to cut and season fruit on carts as long as they're equipped with a handwashing sink. Los Angeles officials are even donating some compliant carts to vendors, amid backlash and controversy.

The latest: At this month's hearing, Orozco appealed to leaders to "expand the narrative of what we could do within regulations," by changing the law.

• And she's asking at a rare moment of possibility.

"We have been working with [multiple stakeholders] to look at the possibility of updating or creating a new ordinance," Ponce de Leon announced in the hearing.

• "We have very outdated street vendor laws in Chicago. And if you just look at New York or Los Angeles, Houston, there are more options there for street vendors than we have in our city."

What's next: Vasquez says he's also looking to tweak the law and will be working to win over his colleagues with an eye toward introducing something by the end of the year.