City of Atlanta Cracks Down on Public Vendors

Charles Edwards / WABE News

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As Atlanta prepares to host the NCAA Final Four tournament, police officers are informing would-be vendors they can’t sell merchandise on city property. 

A former city ordinance allowed the practice. But a December court order eliminated the city’s vending regulations. Mayor Kasim Reed’s senior policy adviser David Bennett says that  effectively left Atlanta without a legal vending system.  

“We spent a couple of months trying to figure out, you know, ‘So, what’s the proper thing to do in response to that?’” Bennett says, “And decided it’s time to sort of temporarily suspend the vending program because we have no way to regulate it at present.”

Bennett says Atlanta police officers went to some locations today, including Little Five Points and areas near Turner Field, to inform vendors of the change. He says they can still sell their wares on private property if they come to an agreement with the owners.