{"id":60466,"date":"2024-05-03T10:37:49","date_gmt":"2024-05-03T17:37:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/eltecolote.org\/content\/?p=60466"},"modified":"2024-05-07T13:54:48","modified_gmt":"2024-05-07T20:54:48","slug":"mission-street-vendors-la-placita","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/eltecolote.org\/content\/en\/mission-street-vendors-la-placita\/","title":{"rendered":"Mission street vendors fight to make La Placita work"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

From the bustling BART station on 24th and Mission, you can already hear the music. Just 350 feet away, a live DJ is blaring \u201cMambo Lupita\u201d at the corner of a fenced-in, outdoor parking lot, where more than a dozen street vendors are stationed. One vendor sells flowers. Another sells bucket hats and plush toys. Another, jewelry.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For the past two Saturdays, La Placita, now the only city-sanctioned site for displaced Mission street vendors to sell, has been booming \u2014 or trying to. The lively atmosphere is a stark change from previous months, when only about three to five street vendors quietly occupied the spacious lot.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt\u2019s much better now,\u201d said Javier Ortiz, who sells flowers. He says the live music and increased number of vendors makes the site more appealing to customers. \u201cNow, many more people come. It’s a different atmosphere and it’s more beautiful.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

La Placita is one of two sites that were opened after San Francisco issued a vending ban late November to combat the illegal selling of stolen goods along Mission Street. The ban displaced nearly 140 permitted vendors from the highly-trafficked street, causing many vendors to go from earning several hundred dollars a day to single-digit earnings at the new vending sites.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Juana Badillo said her sales improved after La Placita became the only sanctioned site for displaced Mission street vendors to sell merchandise in San Francisco, Calif. Photo: Erika Carlos<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

By mid-April, only a handful of vendors remained at either La Placita or El Tiangue, the other sanctioned site. El Tiangue, an indoor storefront at Mission Street near 18th, closed on April 21, 2024, marking a \u201cgrand re-opening\u201d for La Placita, which is now hosting a group of about twenty street vendors. Along with Calle 24, the nonprofit that manages the site, Mission street vendors are now doing what they can to make their only vending alternative work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI see potential in this place,\u201d said Sofia Lopez, who has been selling clothes and accessories at La Placita since December. From selling nothing, Lopez said she\u2019s now making between $40 to $50 a day. \u201cI think that later, this place is going to be a blessing for many vendors,\u201d said Lopez. \u201cThings don’t happen overnight.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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