Making street vendors legit: State task force starts its work

For about a quarter century, Teodora Tepetzi has sold a variety of street foods and bouquets of flowers on Las Vegas street corners, wishing but never fully imagining that her business would some day be legal.

Tepetzi is one of nine members of the Secretary of State’s Task Force on Safe Sidewalk Vending, created by a Nevada law that legalized sidewalk vending earlier this year.

As the city of Las Vegas and Clark County continue to iron out the details of ordinances that will regulate the practice, the task force held its first meeting Tuesday.

The task force that comprises local and state officials, law enforcement and food vendors is responsible for overseeing the implementation of the law and is tasked with providing updates to future legislatures.

During the first meeting, the heads of the business license departments of Las Vegas and Clark County made presentations on where their ordinance proposals stand.

The county’s director of business licensing, Vincent Queano, holds a seat on the task force.

The committee provided its own input to the local officials.

Tepetzi questioned proposed distance requirements that would keep vendors away from locations including brick-and-mortar eateries and public parks.

Noting that many vendors make a living working out of parks, she recommended the local jurisdictions to reconsider some of those restrictions.

The Clark County Commission earlier this month approved an ordinance that will keep vendors 1,500 feet away from Strip attractions and Allegiant Stadium. The county is currently compiling input it received from the community, as it drafts a second ordinance that will include other rules and restrictions.

Queano said county regulations could be voted on as early as January.

Meanwhile, the city of Las Vegas is conducting a business impact statement and has introduced proposals that could make it into its own ordinance, which can be voted on as early as late December, said Darcy Adelbai-Hurd, the city’s business licensing manager.

Those include business license fees and additional distance requirements. The Southern Nevada Health District will regulate vendors at both jurisdictions and inspect sanitary conditions.

The city and the county have been working to educate vendors about the upcoming regulations, holding town halls, including one the city of Las Vegas hosted later Tuesday.

The Metropolitan Police Department has been handing out pamphlets to vendors explaining the rules, Lt. Beth Schmidt said. She’s also a task force member.

The task force is Tepetzi’s first involvement on a government board, something she credits to destiny.

“I’ve been learning, and day by day, I’ll improve to better represent my vendor colleagues,” she said in Spanish.

While she’s pushing for changes, she said that she understands the rules will be set and that she will fully obey them.

Tepetzi has taken risks by selling food illegally for nearly 25 years, because it’s her job, it’s her patrimony and she has to buy food and pay rent, she said.

It’s an honorable career, she said.

“We have to keep moving forward and we’re not going to pause regardless of restrictions,” she said. “We will continue to succeed.”

Contact Ricardo Torres-Cortez at rtorres@reviewjournal.com. Follow @rickytwrites on Twitter.