High Street, San Fer­nan­do bus­tled with ac­tiv­i­ty yes­ter­day. Pedes­tri­ans weaved be­tween de­liv­ery trucks and taxis, while street ven­dors stood watch­ful­ly be­side dis­plays of fruit, belts, un­der­wear, wal­lets and phone ac­ces­sories. De­spite the risk of be­ing fined or hav­ing their goods seized, many re­turned day af­ter day, play­ing cat-and-mouse with mu­nic­i­pal po­lice. They say they have no choice.

They are al­so re­fus­ing to sup­port San Fer­nan­do May­or Robert Par­ris’ plan to re­lo­cate them to the soon-to-open Fruit Court at Har­ris Prom­e­nade.

At last week’s San Fer­nan­do City Cor­po­ra­tion statu­to­ry meet­ing, Par­ris main­tained his hard­line stance: no vend­ing on High Street. He an­nounced the Fruit Court’s June open­ing near En­gine No 11, ex­plain­ing it would pro­vide a struc­tured space for fruit sell­ers, crafts­peo­ple, and leather work­ers, with broad­er in­clu­sion planned.

He cit­ed Ari­ma’s suc­cess with a sim­i­lar mod­el and said ven­dors would pay a $500 fee to the cor­po­ra­tion’s con­sol­i­dat­ed fund for main­te­nance. In 2023, ven­dors were re­moved from High Street and Li­brary Cor­ner, and booths were in­stalled at Mu­cu­rapo Street in front of the San Fer­nan­do Mar­ket. How­ev­er, they were dis­man­tled be­fore Car­ni­val 2024 and nev­er re­turned.

Ven­dors have re­sort­ed to sell­ing on the streets again, some los­ing their goods in po­lice raids.

Shawn De­ok­ien­anan, who ap­plied for a stall at the Fruit Court, said the idea was good in the­o­ry be­cause it of­fered le­gal foot­ing for ven­dors. He found the $500 fee rea­son­able, but the lo­ca­tion was a con­cern.

“There are home­less peo­ple and drunk­ards around the prom­e­nade. Cus­tomers don’t want to go there,” he said.

He added that sim­i­lar is­sues arose dur­ing pre­vi­ous re­lo­ca­tion at­tempts. How­ev­er, with the May­or’s promise of a Prom­e­nade Pa­trol, he was will­ing to give it a try. Still, stand­ing next to his goods be­side the San Fer­nan­do Di­al, he ad­mit­ted the new site wouldn’t match the vis­i­bil­i­ty and foot traf­fic of Li­brary Cor­ner.

“This here is the main hub. All the taxis are right here. Peo­ple go­ing to work in the morn­ing—it’s con­ve­nient.”

When ven­dors were first told about the Fruit Court, they were promised lights, wa­ter and se­cu­ri­ty. But in the in­ter­im, with nowhere else to go and no in­come, many have re­turned to the streets.

“They just start­ed to run us like dogs all over the place,” he said.

De­ok­ien­anan was even charged for vend­ing around the April 28 Gen­er­al Elec­tion and placed on a year-long bond.

“I came back. I had to do some­thing. I have to live.”

Leslie Noel, who sells wal­lets and phone ac­ces­sories, al­so ob­ject­ed to the Fruit Court’s lo­ca­tion—next to a pub­lic toi­let—call­ing it un­suit­able.

He said pre­vi­ous ef­forts to move ven­dors to Mu­cu­rapo Street failed due to crime, gam­bling and va­grancy. There is al­so not enough space.

“My pro­pos­al is to al­low us one cot on the street. That way, peo­ple can still pass. One cot—I’m fine with that.”

He in­sist­ed ven­dors were will­ing to pay, but any­where off High Street would af­fect their sales.

Re­spond­ing to Par­ris’ ar­gu­ment that ven­dors cre­ate un­fair com­pe­ti­tion for brick-and-mor­tar busi­ness­es, Noel said the cor­po­ra­tion’s pre­vi­ous re­moval of taxis and im­ple­men­ta­tion of an ag­gres­sive wreck­er use had turned High Street in­to a ghost town.

“Vend­ing brings life to the area,” he said.

For­mer High Street Ven­dors As­so­ci­a­tion pres­i­dent Cheryl Lawrence, now rent­ing a $2,000-per-month shop in a mall, said she had no choice af­ter the cor­po­ra­tion end­ed des­ig­nat­ed vend­ing days. She was among the few able to af­ford a store­front. Oth­ers could not and sales re­mained slow.

“Even on High Street, there are days I sell just one belt—$25,” Lawrence said. “Peo­ple buy as they pass. That’s how it works.”

She said a re­turn to street vend­ing three days per week would be fair. She added ven­dors were not try­ing to cause trou­ble.

“We’re try­ing to make a dol­lar—not turn to crime.”