{"id":425874,"date":"2026-08-06T23:50:15","date_gmt":"2026-08-06T23:50:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/425874\/"},"modified":"2026-08-06T23:50:15","modified_gmt":"2026-08-06T23:50:15","slug":"vendors-call-for-better-treatment-from-the-city","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/425874\/","title":{"rendered":"Vendors call for better treatment from the city"},"content":{"rendered":"

Two weeks after spending a long, difficult day in the City Council chamber advocating for better treatment for vendors, Anita Miralle found herself yesterday evening happily greeting fellow vendors and passersby at Lake Merritt, buoyed by the feeling that her cause was gaining momentum. Her tabling effort, timed to take place during the city\u2019s National Night Out block parties, came after a wave of vendor sweeps<\/a> by Oakland police and city staff that resulted in the dumping of vendors\u2019 goods.<\/p>\n

Miralle, who goes by Anita Bee, told us in an interview at the lake that her fledgling advocacy group, the Oakland Street Vendor Collective, has added about 40 new vendors over the last month who will organize together moving forward.\u00a0<\/p>\n

When asked by a skeptical resident whether the city would actually listen to their demands, she quickly answered in the affirmative. \u201cIt can be done,\u201d she said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

A city spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment.<\/p>\n

Miralle and other Oakland vendors previously told The Oaklandside that city staff, including police officers and staff from the city\u2019s Economic & Workforce Development department<\/a>, had targeted vendors more aggressively this year with sweeps, detention, and property destruction. Several social media videos have gone viral in recent months showing public employees taking vendor gear and goods away and throwing it into trash compactors, incidents the vendors say in some cases impacted people who had the necessary permits to sell goods. Robbie Powelson, an affiliate of the Criminal Law and Justice Center<\/a> at UC Berkeley, filed a lawsuit<\/a> against the city on July 9 to obtain public records related to the raids.<\/p>\n

The Oakland Police Department did not respond to queries seeking an explanation for the raids or to requests for policy documents related to vendor removal. Instead, the OPD provided a press release documenting a raid on one vendor who was unlawfully selling alcohol, including to an undercover member of the police department\u2019s Alcoholic Beverage Action Team. She was subsequently arrested.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Before the tabling event last night, as part of National Night for Safety and Liberation<\/a>, a 13-year-old alternative to police-sponsored Night Out rallies<\/a>, Miralle\u2019s new vendor collective issued a press release calling the attacks on vendors a repudiation of \u201cOakland\u2019s identity,\u201d because they had been a \u201ccore element of how working class communities in the flatlands survive, build, and thrive.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Miralle said at the City Council meeting last month that she had been able to pay for her family\u2019s basic needs for more than three decades through vending.\u00a0<\/p>\n

A call for financial assistance<\/p>\n

\"\"Anita Miralle is the main organizer of the new vendor collective in Oakland. Credit: Jose Fermoso \/ The Oaklandside<\/p>\n

Miralle said the collective is seeking a comprehensive vendor support system, modeled after other California cities, such as Long Beach and Los Angeles, which offer financial aid<\/a> to support vendors in obtaining a business license and health permit, among other benefits. The collective also seeks better communication between the city and vendors who lack permits; fee waivers for first-year vendors to help them stand up their business; mentoring and business coaching; privacy protections for immigrant vendors; and the designation of specific areas for vending. Above all, they want the city to stop the sweeps and property destruction.<\/p>\n

In the aftermath of the vendors\u2019 advocacy day at City Hall, Oakland announced a \u201chands-on outreach event for outdoor vendors,\u201d on Thursday, August 13, at the Henry J. Kaiser Center for the Arts from 2 to 6 p.m. According to the announcement, the event will offer \u201ceducation, technical assistance, permitting and licensing services from City of Oakland and Alameda County agencies \u2014 all in one place.\u201d<\/p>\n

Oakland Mayor Barbara Lee said in the announcement that the city wants \u201cto assure our outdoor vendor community that we\u2019re here to help in a safe and supportive space.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

While that event may be helpful, Miralle said, it still illustrates a communication gap between the city and the vendors because, she said, no one reached out to the vendor collective in planning the event.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201c\u200aYou\u2019re like building the horse before the carriage\u201d she said. \u201cWhat you really need to do is stop these sweeps, then you need to really do a full assessment of what has been happening, understand the state laws that decriminalize and protect vending they\u2019ve broken. And they didn\u2019t reach out to none of us, they\u2019re not coming to us with flyers.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Miralle also said that the city\u2019s upcoming event outreach runs counter to the aggressive intimidation the vendors continue to face. She said that last Friday, as she was passing out flyers about the new collective, city staff members surrounded her and falsely accused her of selling food. She was given a verbal \u201cfirst warning,\u201d without specifics.<\/p>\n

\u201c\u200aThey didn\u2019t identify who they were and asked if I had a permit or permission to be here,\u201d she said. \u201cI asked, \u2018A permit to do what?\u2019 To pass out papers? To get signatures?\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u2018What are y\u2019all so concerned about?\u2019<\/p>\n

\"\"Raven Lee, a vendor who sells lemonade, said her goods were taken and destroyed by the city even after showing a permit to sell. Credit: Jose Fermoso \/ The Oaklandside<\/p>\n

Other vendors at the Lake Merritt outreach event told us that the city\u2019s actions have intimidated them.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Raven Lee, an Oakland resident who has been selling drinks for the last two years at a pop-up called Her Lemonade, was removed from the street during the May 1 First Friday event near the Paramount Theater, even though she said she showed city staffers a permit for her business. A video of that removal was reviewed by The Oaklandside. Her goods and setup, which she said were worth up to $1,000, were thrown into a trash compactor, which she said has made her afraid to go out to sell again.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI haven\u2019t been back out,\u201d Lee said. \u201cIf I go out here and sell, they gonna arrest me? What\u2019s gonna happen?\u201d<\/p>\n

Lee said it felt demeaning to be treated in the way criminals selling drugs would be.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201c\u200aWhat are y\u2019all so concerned about? There\u2019s rapists out here, dope, elderly abuse, all kinds of stuff, and you are wasting your time with people who\u2019s just trying to have a good time and enjoy the culture,\u201d she said. \u201cIs this a power trip or what?\u201d<\/p>\n

Nate Day, a popcorn vendor at Pop Wok n Drop<\/a>, said at the meetup that he\u2019s been fortunate not to have personally faced aggressive tactics from city staff but said that the recent raids were a \u201cblack eye\u201d on what he saw as an improved tone under the current council and administration.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cGranted, some people do pop off at the mouth when they are approached by staff, but they also suppose to educate you,\u201d he said. \u201cIt takes etiquette, with the Parks and Rec. \u200aI don\u2019t think they should throw they stuff away. That\u2019s cold. Like, just tell them to leave, man. You trying to make an example out of somebody?\u201d<\/p>\n

Day agreed with Miralle that the heavy enforcement counters Oakland\u2019s ethos of entrepreneurship and reinforces a growing sense of overpolicing<\/a> at the lake, especially of Black, brown, and Asian people.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s still family time and chill here, you know what I\u2019m saying?\u201d Day said. \u201cIt\u2019s a public area. You gotta be out here, bro, willing to be a part of the community because community is what make us come together.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

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