Note: This article was updated to include responses received after publication from LA County Supervisor Lindsey Horvath and LA City Councilmember Imelda Padilla.Most days, but especially on weekends, the sidewalks between the Valley Indoor Swap Meet and the El Super grocery store in Panorama City are vibrant, bustling with vendors and neighbors chatting over music as steam rises from food stalls.
“[On weekends] you’re going to see this entire place full. This whole corridor is street vendors,” Edwin Soto Saucedo, an immigrant rights activist who advocates for street vendors, told LA Public Press. “They’re selling aguas frescas, fresh fruit. You’re hearing cumbias, merengues. It’s a very vibrant community.”
In Los Angeles County, which is home to an estimated 3.5 million immigrants, food markets like these are vital community spaces. But on Tuesday, the sidewalks in Panorama City were nearly empty. Only one vendor set up to sell tamales. Foot traffic was light as rain fell…