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Vendors Could Challenge City’s New Ordinance

November 7th, 2013

The years-long legal battle might not yet be over between Atlanta’s city government and street vendors, with attorneys for the vendors earlier this week saying they could challenge the new policy.As heard on the radio

On Monday, Attorney Robert Frommer, who represents the vendors, called the newest vending ordinance, which was signed into law that same day, “unconstitutional.”

“The government is not supposed to pick winners and losers, and what the city council has done today is violate the Georgia constitution,” Frommer said.

The city and vendors have been locked in a court battle that started in 2009, when then-Mayor Shirley Franklin tried to contract out the vending program to a private company. The vendors sued, and last year that policy was found unconstitutional and thrown out. No permits have been issued since.

Frommer said at issue with the new ordinance, which passed within the hour of a hearing on whether Mayor Kasim Reed and Police Chief George Turner were in contempt of court for not issuing permits under an older policy, is a stipulation that vendors can’t hawk their wares within a quarter mile of brick-and-mortar stores selling the same or similar goods.

Fommer wasn’t committal on whether vendors would fight the new ordinance, but said he’d take a closer look at the new law.

“We’re seriously considering challenging this, just as we have challenged similar restrictions in cities throughout the nation,” Frommer said.

In a statement, a city spokesman said, “The city believes the new public vending ordinance is constitutional and legally defensible.”

Both sides are still waiting for Fulton County Judge Shawn Ellen Lagrua to rule whether the city was in contempt for not issuing permits. LaGrua said she’ll make her ruling sometime this week.