The city of San Diego has begun constructing spaces for approved sidewalk vendor activity, including a few in La Jolla.
The efforts to delineate where such activity – limited to protected free speech activities such as speaking in public about political, ideological or religious topics; distributing brochures; and art creation and sales – come after the City Council tightened regulations to whittle down the proliferation of sidewalk vending in the last few years.
Currently, a box of painted blue lines sits at The Children’s Pool and four-by-eight-foot dugouts have been constructed at Scripps Park.
The dugouts will be framed and filled in with pavers, according to city spokesperson Benny Cartwright, and more locations added.
The Scripps Park locations are also considered temporary, Cartwright said, as a sidewalk expansion along Coast Boulevard has been included in the city’s upcoming budget.
The city posted to Instagram March 29 that enforcement of the tighter, amended regulations would begin that day, but lajolla.ca observed several vendors operating in Scripps Park on April 1.
