In San Diego, invasion of the Chiclet sellers

 by Monica Showalter

Has wokester-run San Diego decided to become New Tijuana?

Apparently so.

According to the California Post, citing a piece in the San Diego Union-Tribune:

San Diego seems to have no solution to its illegal street vendor problem and it’s only getting worse in many areas including the popular Balboa Park and Gaslamp Quarter.

Local business leaders are frustrated following the January 2026 California appeals court ruling, which forced the city officials to entirely halt the crackdown on street vendors. 

“It’s a disaster,” Denny Knox, executive director of the Ocean Beach Main Street Association, told the San Diego Union Tribune last week.

It's what's known as informalism and found in the third world -- shantytowns, potholes, cement, and Chiclet sellers apprehending passers-by on every boulevard; unlicensed, unmarked, unregulated.

The city attempted to stop it in 2022 because merchants, who pay taxes, were moving out as hot dog and Mexican food vendors moved in, taking their business. That left empty storefronts, and jammed streets with food carts run by illegals who pay no taxes, respect no regulations, follow no food-safety standards, and don't bother with sanitation requirements, in striking contrast to those businesses which are forced to pay taxes, maintain sanitation and food safety, and shell out for high labor costs.

A permitted longtime vendor sued, and the judges ruled that it went against the state's Safe Sidewalks Vending Act which 'decriminalized' unregulated sidewalk vendors.

Not surprisingly, once that ruling rolled out early this year, the Mexican cartels moved in and now most of these carts are likely cartel-owned and operated. 

Which is pretty ugly, given that legitimate businesses are being forced to close their doors while cartel operators wash their hot dogs in filthy water and leave them unrefrigerated in the sun. Such fine tourist options, catching 'turista' even on this side of the border.

But the bigger problem is that city doesn't have a clue as to how to handle this, with obvious results.

One, they could have appealed the ridiculous ruling from the appeals court leftists who overturned the original case as worthless, and they didn't do that.

Two, instead of focus on permitted areas, which is where the dispute was, they could have focused on permits themselves, allowing only permitted vendors to do what they wanted, not the incoming cartel carts. 

But they have done neither, and now the paralysis is obvious.

What a sorry, and dangerous situation, given the cartel activity.

It goes to show that one more blue-city government is really overdue for a throw-out. Here in San Diego, we can only hope.

https://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2026/07/in-san-diego-invasion-of-the-chiclet-sellers/