As you drive through Española on a warm spring weekend, it’s impossible to miss the labyrinth of vendors perched in almost every parking lot imaginable selling edibles to car parts. Most of them are there illegally.
The main reason they’re all there breaking the law is simple: because they can. That’s because the only reason for the vendors to either become legal or move on is the city of Española’s code enforcement division. Since we can’t live like a civilized society we have this department to force some of us to clean up our acts. These are the folks who cite people for weeds in the yard, abandoned vehicles or that washing machine in your yard that you can’t seem to get to the transfer station.
They also come after you when you’re doing some building renovation without a permit. We can tell you from experience they catch those folks right away.
Another very important part of the Division is to keep vendors from selling goods on the street without a permit.
The Division claims to be overworked and understaffed. We’re not sure what they’re spending their time on but it’s not citing these scofflaws who continually sell goods illegally from their vehicles.
We understand the economy is slow, times are tough. A way to make ends meet is to sell a few things from your car along the road. Aside from not being properly permitted, there are several things wrong with roadside vendors.
First, not being properly licensed, they are paying no taxes and contribute nothing to the community. Center Market, Lowes Super Saver and Valley Superette all sell produce, piñon and chile. It’s properly packaged and they are properly licensed and inspected. They are probably Chamber of Commerce members. They support local sports, community projects, scholarships and provide a lot of jobs. That’s where we should be spending our money.
When someone sets up shop along the road and sells the same items, the only thing the city and community gets out of it is the negative image provided to tourists as they move down Riverside Drive. It’s third world-like and that’s not the image we want to present to outsiders if we want them to stop and spend money with people who pay taxes, support the community and do business here in the Valley.
Another problem is the question of whether some of the goods being sold are stolen. Along the same vein we get letters indicating some people are dealing drugs while selling their “legal” wares.
Kelly Armstrong has an idea to curtail the illegal street vendors. She’d like to round them up and have them sell from one central location. The positive side of that is at least the city could get a couple of dollars out of the vendors and it would take them out of the parking lots. It would also make it a little easier for law enforcement to move through the booths and see who’s there and what they’re selling.
We have a better idea. The city’s code enforcement folks should get out there and cite the people not properly permitted. Some of the vendors told our reporter they come here (from as far away as Taos and Albuquerque) because they don’t get hassled. How about the city police stopping by and saying hi? If someone’s dealing drugs, just a cop showing up is going to discourage illegal activity.
Yes, times are tough. We appreciate anyone trying to make a little extra money. But there’s a right and a wrong way to do it. The laws are on the books. The city just needs to enforce them.
And if there’s support for a flea market, great. But enforce the laws and provide fair competition to those businesses selling the same goods legally while also supporting their community.