City Asks Judge To Reconsider Vending Permits Order

“It doesn’t make any sense that the judge has ordered these people to put us back to work and they refuse to obey the order of the court,” says Larry Miller, president of the Atlanta Street Vendors Association. 

The city maintains it no longer has a vending policy after its standing ordinance was found unconstitutional in December of last year, and says therefore it cannot issue permits until a new system is established. That’s despite a ruling last week in which Lagrua directed the city to issue permits under the ordinance prior to the one that was struck down.

City officials have said they plan to appeal the order. Vendors have been out of work since March, when they were cleared out to make way for a more uniform city ordinance. The city hasn’t issued any vending permits since.

WABE Legal analyst Page Pate says even while the city waits for Lagrua to reconsider, it’s still obligated to issue vending permits.

“The judge is rejecting [the city’s] argument, saying wait a minute, no, I found the whole thing unconstitutional,” Yate says. “That means you wipe it off the books and go back to the ordinance that was in place before y’all tried to change it.”

Pate says the city could be asking for reconsideration to present new evidence, or give the judge one last chance to rule in its favor before appealing the order.  

The city plans to establish a new ordinance by the end of the year.

Should the city appeal the order, the issue would head to the Georgia Supreme Court.