More than a year-and-a-half after promising to provide up to 40 free carts to eligible street vendors, Long Beach hasn’t even made it halfway to that goal and now plans to cut funding for the program.
As of late February, Long Beach has supplied 11 free carts, with six more applicants waiting for final approvals. Health officials say this is because out of the 123 applicants, the vast majority haven’t completed all the steps necessary.
Long Beach originally allocated $429,500 for the free-cart program, but the City Council recently approved reducing that by $200,201, citing the “low participation” and the need to balance a city budget that’s facing deficits…