Community Organizers Are Providing Support For Street Vendors, Following Killing Of Vendor

Speaker 1: 00:00 Street vendors in the central Valley have been facing violence and theft. And just last month, a man named Lorenzo Perez was shot and killed while he was selling corn in Southeast Fresno. Now community members are offering patrolling and other services to help vendors feel less vulnerable Valley public radios, Maddie Bolanos reports. Speaker 2: 00:22 [inaudible] I wanted to cry when I heard they killed that, man. We're just out here looking for a better life. That old regas is a street vendor who sells clothes and blankets in South East Fresno. A few months ago, someone took off with her most expensive blankets. Since then, she's been hesitant about returning to work. Fresno police say there were six incidents involving street vendors last year, but experts say many more go unreported, community organizer, Alex Ramos, OKC says many street vendors. Don't go to the police because they're afraid they'll be arrested for being undocumented or cited because they don't have the proper permits. I'm just trying to take care of their families and trying to take care of themselves. Um, and especially when we're in the middle of a pandemic and you know, some folks, right, haven't gotten any government assistance, especially like a lot of our undocumented community. Speaker 2: 01:11 That's why following the news of Lorenzo Perez's death, Ramos OKC began organizing community members to provide pepper spray and other forms of support to street vendors. At the city level, council members are proposing a street vendor association and calling for a streamlined permitting process. So vendors can operate legally Ramos. OKC says they want their efforts to be guided by the vendors themselves. We just want to make sure that, you know, we're, we're asking them, right. You know, like this is the support that we can offer you in this moment, but we would like to continue, right. And make sure that you feel comfortable telling us, right. If there's additional means of protection, um, that you would like later on malaria Rodriguez Pedroza has been working with Ramos OKC on these efforts. She says the protection might look different for each type of street vendor, whether they're pushing a car to [inaudible] or lattes, or if they're selling clothes on a street corner, I see someone who is mobile. It is because they're at the very start of their business. So oftentimes they'll start mobile. And then they'll have a corner where they have a developed group of customers that know them that know they're going to be at that spot, that he gets better processes. Most vendors are usually alone and therefore vulnerable. That's why she's also introducing them to multiple payment services like cash app. That way she says street vendors won't have to carry as much cash with them. Speaker 2: 02:32 Okay. [inaudible] it's a hot day on the corner of [inaudible] and Cedar in Southeast Fresno Rodriguez Pedroza is helping Francisco Matiaz and Esperanza Rodriguez set up a cash app account. Yeah. Gave up on it. The couple said someone Rob sweaters from them in December, but they continue to work because it's their only way to support their family. Now [inaudible] says they've been feeling even more anxiety since they heard about what happened to Lorenzo Perez. We are scared that something can happen to us. We're here with our little business. This is how we live Rodriguez. [inaudible] says she and other organizers will continue to patrol the area so that the couple and other vendors can feel safe while working. That would just be a means of just showing up, right. Strength in numbers. Just being there, being aware, paying attention to what's going on. She says they will continue taking donations to provide PPE pepper spray and video recorders to street vendors that want them I'm Marty Bolanos in Fresno.