Larry Vitale, PHN, MPA, Alameda County Public Health Department, 1000 Broadway, Suite 500, Oakland, CA 94607, (510) 208-5944, Larry.Vitale@acgov.org and Benjamin Velez Fraticelli, MPH, Community Health Academy, 2647 International Blvd. # 600, Oakland, CA 94601.

For many years a group of approximately 30 unconnected Mexican-American street vendors (Fruteros) in the largely Latino Fruitvale District of Oakland (CA) were seen as a nuisance by the police and as an environmental health hazard by the local public health department. The official response was sporadic citation of individual vendors and confiscation of their products, a combination of prepared fresh fruit and vegetables, hot corn on the cob, or hot tamales. The police joined in the issuing of citations because the city had no ordinance that allowed street vending. This prevented the Fruteros from obtaining a city business license, thus excluding these entrepreneurs from the legitimate business community and leaving them disenfranchised. While the desired impact of the applicable sections of the Health and Safety Code (public policy) is to protect the public food supply, the enforcement approach did little to insure that safety.

The situation changed dramatically when a unique partnership was formed between the Fruteros, the Alameda County Public Health Department, the Community Health Academy, and the UC Berkeley School of Public Health. Over a period of two-years the street vendors organized, formed a mutual aid corporation, obtained a jointly-operated commercial kitchen, purchased approved push carts, and influenced the City of Oakland to create an ordinance allowing street vending in the Fruitvale district. The result has been that the entire cohort of 30 Fruteros is code compliant, their economic status has improved, and the neighborhood is improved by the Fruteros increased presence.

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