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Street vendors across the city are constantly harassed and made to feel
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unwelcome but are such an important part of the city and our
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culture. Today, we have Nico Armenta from Tian's Market to
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chat about his foundation for vendors in L A.
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Thank you for covering Nico.
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So why did you decide to start Tangis?
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Yeah. So Tangis came about actually,
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right after the pandemic myself,
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I was a street vendor and when I saw the pandemic hit
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really broke my heart completely.
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I mean, for me back in the days,
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it was just hustle grind,
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serve my famous hot dogs and get home.
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So you were a street vendor yourself.
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I was, I did that for for many years.
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I'm an entrepreneur and the pandemic hit.
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And I saw so much like closure and you know,
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devastation with our community that I was like,
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I have the knowledge for this.
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I can really put it together all through my life.
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My father would talk to me about the Tangis where he
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where he grew up and how he provided for his family
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and how my grandparents farmed and they would take their vegetation,
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fruits and herbs to the local tangis.
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It clicked. I was like dad,
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what did you say about the agu let's sit down and let's
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try to really see how we can embrace this forward.
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I was born in Mexico and yeah,
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la capital Federal. So shout out to all my people in
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Mexico City. You know,
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I would visit Mexico like when I was 1315,
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18. So I would always go to the Tangis because it's
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responsible for 86% of local cells in one day.
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So the people need the Tangis.
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It's almost better to be at the Tiani the outdoor market than
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to be in your storefront just waiting for a customer.
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Exactly. And I feel like it's more like there's so much
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culture to it and everything.
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So did you see what happened at the rolling loud?
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Like the fights and the like the police chasing the street vendors
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and the street vendors,
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their stuff just being kind of taken and,
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and you know, the street vendors being harassed.
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Like, does that happen a lot?
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Unfortunately. it's a,
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It's so unfortunate that this is happening to such hard working people
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They're just there to literally provide for their families.
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right? Senate Bill 946 says that it's not a crime to
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vent anymore, right?
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And I think it's about time that we help our street vendors
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they need the proper attention,
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education and so forth and permitting.
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I mean, we did a survey in San Francisco and guess
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what, 89% of street vendors said sign me up,
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I will definitely get my permit,
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but they're not making it easy for us.
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There's a language barrier and let's be real,
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right? A lot of our culture,
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people, we got to trace this back,
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right? So unesco protected the Mexican cuisine and they saw it
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as a fundamental cultural,
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right? So essentially our people are only doing what they know
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which is harvest and cultivate our our indigenous food.
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It's a shame that a lot of council members,
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city officials, even other organizations,
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I feel like we need to step up harder,
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we need to help our people and you know,
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all of street vendors and and let's be real.
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I I think it would benefit like cities if you help them
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put it easier for them,
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it would benefit you guys.
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Do you think it's getting better like or is it getting worse
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I feel like we're such in a great area.
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I feel there is a lot of things good that are happening
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the city of Long Beach,
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you know, they said that they were that they're starting
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to give out permits.
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But then we see other cities unfortunately like Anaheim and Santa Ana
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that are not, they're still being closed,
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they're not doing anything about it.
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Even when, you know,
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my organization brought a wonderful program to the table.
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It was ignored, right?
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So, and is that why you guys are moving away from
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San Ana? That's one of the reasons,
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I feel like it's a very unfortunate what that we
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had to close our doors in Santa Ana,
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by the way, we gave out more than 2000 sellers permits
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All free organization helped out.
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That means that 2000 people have their seller's permit.
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very important guys, be very,
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very cautious that when you vent somewhere,
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you have to pull a business city license in that city
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And this is why we need to all just link
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in, come together because like I said,
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guys, it benefits your city.
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Yeah, I'd rather go to street vendors for my things than
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just big, huge corporations and stores.
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you know, what's fresh food on the spot?
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It's made with love,
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you know, and we appreciate you guys doing it for so
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many years and we're excited to see where you guys are next
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Hopefully somewhere in L A too because I would love to
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go and sell my personal pet supplies there.
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So, thank you so much.
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Absolutely. Yeah. And I just wanna let you guys know
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that. Yeah, we closed one shop,
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but we're actually, right now as we speak in a contract
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discussion of three locations.
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wait, when one door closes,
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you go out the window or I don't know how to say
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another door opens, but we're so excited for you Nico to
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see where you guys end up.
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Thank you so much for joining us and where can people follow
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you? Absolutely. And thank you for having me.
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Please follow us at Tangis underscore market.
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All right guys, if you're a vendor,
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apply, locations are about to spring up guys for the summer
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Absolutely. Thank you,
Series