{"id":471955,"date":"2026-09-22T13:36:18","date_gmt":"2026-09-22T13:36:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/471955\/"},"modified":"2026-09-22T13:36:18","modified_gmt":"2026-09-22T13:36:18","slug":"steve-hilton-takes-aim-at-los-angeles-street-vending-during-exclusive-fox-11-walk","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/471955\/","title":{"rendered":"Steve Hilton takes aim at Los Angeles street vending during exclusive FOX 11 walk"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Steve \"Steve Steve Hilton takes aim at LA street vendors<\/a> <\/p>\n

Republican gubernatorial candidate Steve Hilton called for overturning California\u2019s sidewalk-vending law, arguing it hurts brick-and-mortar businesses. During a walk through Westlake, Hilton criticized unpermitted vendors, neighborhood conditions and street vending\u2019s impact on legal immigrant-owned businesses.<\/p>\n

LOS ANGELES – Republican gubernatorial candidate Steve Hilton is calling for changes to California’s sidewalk-vending laws, arguing they have contributed to what he describes as an unfair environment for brick-and-mortar businesses.<\/p>\n

During an exclusive one-on-one walk through Westlake with FOX 11, Hilton pointed to vendors selling shoes, cologne and food along the sidewalks.<\/p>\n

At one point, Hilton asked a vendor whether they had a city permit.<\/p>\n

“I don’t know. Sorry,” the vendor responded.<\/p>\n

Los Angeles requires people selling food or merchandise on city sidewalks and in city parks to obtain a Sidewalk & Park Vending Permit, along with other applicable business, tax and health permits.<\/p>\n

A 2025 Los Angeles city report cited an estimate of roughly 50,000 street vendors in the city, including about 10,000 food vendors, and said fewer than 1.4% had a valid operating permit. The figure cited in the report was 687 valid permits.<\/p>\n

The city has since reduced its annual sidewalk-vending permit fee to $27.51. The city said in 2024 that it was issuing an average of 944 permits annually.<\/p>\n

What SB 946 changed <\/p>\n

In 2018, then-Gov. Jerry Brown signed Senate Bill 946, known as the Safe Sidewalk Vending Act.<\/p>\n

The law established statewide rules for local sidewalk-vending programs and decriminalized violations of those programs, replacing criminal penalties with administrative fines. Local governments can still require permits and regulate vending based on health, safety and welfare concerns.<\/p>\n

Hilton said that, if elected governor, he would seek to overturn the law.<\/p>\n

“What I’ve said is … we will send a bill to the Legislature to overturn that law, to save small business,” Hilton said.<\/p>\n

During the walk, Hilton also criticized conditions he saw in the neighborhood, including trash and what he described as drug use.<\/p>\n

“Enough is enough. It’s too much,” Hilton said. “We pay taxes that are too high, to have to put up with this crap.”<\/p>\n

Hilton also argued that some legal immigrant-owned businesses are being hurt by street vending.<\/p>\n

“Legal immigrant-owned businesses have been undermined by illegal immigrants,” Hilton said.<\/p>\n

Hilton was asked where vendors would go if the law were changed.<\/p>\n

“Well, excuse me, they’re mostly, I haven’t checked,” Hilton said. “It’s not my job.”<\/p>\n

Hilton then argued that the original purpose of SB 946 was to give undocumented immigrants an opportunity to earn money. That characterization is Hilton’s claim; the state’s legislative record says SB 946 was intended to establish a legal framework for sidewalk vending, reduce overly restrictive local regulations and eliminate criminal penalties for violations.<\/p>\n

Becerra takes different approach <\/p>\n

The issue is also emerging in the 2026 California governor’s race.<\/p>\n

Democratic candidate Xavier Becerra has publicly praised street food and recently drew attention for comments about street tacos during a speech to Latino business leaders. Becerra said people don’t get “real street tacos” from a long-established establishment but from someone making them from “his little cart.”<\/p>\n

Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass also recently criticized Hilton during an appearance on the Flagrant and Funny podcast, saying a Republican cannot win in California and questioning whether voters would elect a Republican with a British accent.<\/p>\n

Hilton responded by criticizing Bass and Los Angeles’ approach to homelessness and street conditions.<\/p>\n

“Is that what Karen Bass is all about? Attacking an immigrant with a funny accent?” Hilton said. “These people who lecture us about racism and democracy. What a joke. Why don’t you do something about the squalor L.A. has become?”<\/p>\n

FOX 11 reached out to Becerra’s campaign for an interview or statement on street vending. The campaign declined to comment.<\/p>\n

Los Angeles<\/a>Food and Drink<\/a> <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Steve Hilton takes aim at LA street vendors Republican gubernatorial candidate Steve Hilton called for overturning California\u2019s sidewalk-vending…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":471956,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[1184,1339,48,52,51,971,47,137,50,49,100,1181],"class_list":["post-471955","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-los-angeles","tag-ca","tag-food-drink","tag-la","tag-la-headlines","tag-la-news","tag-lifestyle","tag-los-angeles","tag-los-angeles-county","tag-los-angeles-headlines","tag-los-angeles-news","tag-news","tag-us"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/471955","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=471955"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/471955\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/471956"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=471955"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=471955"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=471955"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}