Fruit vending complaints are growing downtown
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Fruit salads from a fruit vendor. Photo: Monica Eng/Axios
Last month we reported on an uptick in ticketing and arrests of downtown fruit vendors.
Why it matters: Some of the citations sent the vendors to criminal court, where they were apprehended and detained by federal agents, despite a state law prohibiting courthouse-adjacent arrests.
Zoom in: When Chicago Police Department officials were asked during a City Council committee meeting why they'd adopted this fairly new tactic, 1st District CPD commander Sheamus Mannion said it was driven by increased complaints, including 911 calls, about fruit vendors in the downtown area.
Yes, but: CPD officials said Axios would have to file a Freedom of Information Act request to find out what that increase looked like.
- So we did.
The upshot: CPD records do indeed show a sharp uptick in complaints this year about fruit vending in the 1st District, which includes the Loop and the Near South Side.
- As of July, there had been 53 complaints, compared with 33 for all of 2025 and only two in 2024.
- CPD officials did not, however, immediately respond to questions about whether these figures reflect all complaints or just 911 calls.
What we're wondering: Fruit vending from carts in the 1st District has been illegal for a long time, so what caused this recent spike in complaints?