The St. Augustine City Commission will vote on a new ordinance that would limit vendor operations during Nights of Lights at their next meeting, according to an agenda item.
Hoping to quell congestion concerns during the annual event, the panel will vote on a measure that would ban vendors from “the western sidewalk South Castillo drive/Avenida Menendez/SR A1A from Orange Street to the north through King Street to the south, as well as the northern sidewalk of Cathedral Place.”
The limitation will also be applied on Independence Day, the ordinance states.
Vendors will still be able to sell their goods during Nights of Lights in all other areas.
In addition, vendors will be barred from vending on the eastern side of Avenida Menendez on the Fourth of July.
A city official told The Citizen that the measure is expected to pass.
Both residents and city commissioners assert that the presence of street vendors exacerbates clogged sidewalks during the event.
Ridding the Old City’s busiest areas of vendors during Nights of Lights — and the Fourth of July — is the “least burdensome” way to ease that overcrowding to some degree, a memo accompanying the ordinance states.
The move will help to maximize “available space on congested sidewalks for the public and key personnel to traverse in a timely fashion,” the memo argues.
The City Commission voted earlier this month to trim the duration of Nights of Lights by 8 days.
The new format — which will only impact this upcoming year — will run from November 15 to January 11.
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2 Responses
It’s not just clogged sidewalks. We the citizens surrounding the area cannot get home and we cannot get to the places we need to get to daily during these hours. Our community was not constructed for this type of traffic and it has been stolen from us and I demand you bring our community back to the citizens who live and work here and consider us first!
Until you own a brick and mortar restaurant or other place of business, you cannot relate to how offensive and unfair it is to allow vendors who pay no insurance, no taxes, etc., while the permanent businesses pay all these fees. It is not right! Or, set up a location where all the vendors must congregate, charge them a fee, set up parking, charge the patrons for parking, make these vendors clean up all their refuse, and pay product liability in case someone gets sick from their food.