Tensions were sky-high the night Lompoc Mayor Jim Mosby went viral on TikTok for protesting a taco stand located behind a Conserve Fuel station.
“This is not legal,” Mosby told sidewalk vendors on the corner of North A and North H streets. “Where’s the refrigeration? What are your temperatures? You have no health permit.”
He emphasized that he loves Mexican food shortly after one seller threatened to call the police. The two-minute clip capturing the incident garnered 16,000 likes and 2,000 shares on TikTok during the first week of December.
At more than 700 comments and counting, the post spurred both online and in-person backlash, with the latter coming from public speakers at the Lompoc City Council’s Dec. 2 meeting.
“Mr. Mayor, let’s talk about the video everyone has seen of you, … confronting Latino street vendors like they’re the problem in a city struggling to attract any living-wage industry,” Lompoc resident Shawna Stillwell said at the hearing.
“Instead of bringing opportunity here, you’re out there flexing your power on hardworking people selling food to feed their kids,” Stillwell continued. “These are families who already live with the daily fear of being torn apart and hunted by federal ICE agents.”
One resident called Mosby a vigilante, while another said he understood the mayor’s intentions but didn’t like how the confrontation played out.
“I’m not saying that we shouldn’t regulate food trucks and things, I’m all for that, mayor. Absolutely. But, … the way it was done is just not great,” Aaron Crocker said. “And it just makes me feel bad about the city I’m in.”
Some TikTok users responded similarly to Crocker in the video’s comment section.
“As awesome as their setup is, and as much as I support their right to free market, there are rules in place for a reason,” one user commented. “However, he could have handled this differently. He should have alerted authorities but instead made himself look like the aggressor.”
Like every city in Santa Barbara County, Lompoc’s food safety inspections fall under the responsibility of Environmental Health Services (EHS), a branch of the county Health Department that walks restaurants and mobile eateries through the steps to become permitted—none of which require an applicant to disclose their citizenship or immigration status.
“We don’t ask any of those questions,” County Health Deputy Director of Operations Lars Seifert told the Sun.
“There’s a lot of immigrants that work in our local restaurant industry and operate mobile food trucks. We welcome that diversity and perspective into the community,” Seifert said. “We just want to make sure you’re doing it in a way that protects food safety, … [so] we can ensure that we’re protecting public health against foodborne illnesses.”
When EHS comes across a sidewalk vendor that’s either unpermitted or breaking food safety rules, the agency’s first course of action after warning or citing them is to educate the offender about what’s required to operate again in the future.
“We just make sure that you’re getting your food from an appropriate source, that you’re handling it correctly, that you have basic sanitation protections, refrigeration, … things to make people have kind of peace of mind when they eat at those facilities that they’re getting safe food,” Seifert said. “We’re very sensitive to make sure that somebody’s fluent in Spanish out there because obviously we do run into many vendors that are limited in English speaking.”
But dealing with repeat offenders, namely those who don’t show interest in complying after multiple interactions with EHS, Seifert said, is a tougher nut to crack.
“We have local vendors who are typically trying to do things right and get permits and go through the process. But it was quickly found that some people could kind of exploit that system,” Seifert said, “and have pop-up sidewalk vending and these tents on the side of the road, … operating outside of the food safety system, [without] those protections for public health in place.”
Santa Barbara County 3rd District Supervisor Joan Hartmann said the majority of complaints her office received in 2024 were about unpermitted food pop-ups in the Santa Ynez Valley.
She described this trend as an unintended consequence of laws California passed in 2018 to decriminalize street vending. Now the county is struggling to enforce against vendors who violate public health and safety codes.
“It’s hard to get some kind of meaningful penalty that would deter the behavior,” said Hartmann, who described the scenario as a game of Whac-A-Mole.
“That’s kind of the game at this point,” she said.
Boiling contention
When EHS issues an administrative citation—the maximum penalty California allows health departments to slap unpermitted sidewalk vendors with outside of confiscating their products—the vendor in question isn’t obligated to give out information about themself or their business.
“If we don’t have a name or address where the fine can be issued to, then there’s no way to follow up on issuing a fine from that,” EHS Director Jason Johnston told the Sun. “The administrative fine does increase as the violations increase. But again, if you can’t even issue that administrative fine or follow up on it, then it doesn’t really change anything.”
During the summer of 2024, a taco vendor with a canopy and portable compact kitchen on the corner of Highway 246 and Refugio Road in Santa Ynez packed up and left after being cited by EHS for operating without a health permit and without hand washing and utensil washing stations.
Less than two hours later, the vendor returned to the same spot and started selling food again, which resulted in a second citation. At the bottom of both citations, “refused to sign” was handwritten, while the lines that follow “business owner address” were marked as “not provided.”
Incidents like this are common, according to Santa Ynez resident Tracy Beard, who lives not far from that corner. Upholding food safety regulations is just one of the reasons she believes in keeping a vigilant eye on Highway 246’s food pop-ups.
“I turn on Refugio every day—a left-hand turn at the high school to go to my home from Solvang—and I see it every evening,” Beard said about the taco stand, which she described as having operated at least three nights a week on the same corner in Santa Ynez for the past two years.
“It is there every Thursday, Friday, Saturday, at 5:30 [p.m.] until midnight,” Beard said. “You’re eating food from people who have no ability to wash their hands after defecating. And I hate to say it like that, but it’s very simple.”
Both Beard’s leadership role with the Solvang Chamber of Commerce and advisory role with the Economic Development Collaborative add extra layers to her beef with the mobile vendor.
In her view, the pop-up in question has shown other businesses that an unpermitted operation can make a profit in the Santa Ynez Valley without facing enforceable consequences from county authorities, Beard said.
“It encourages bad behavior,” Beard said, “and makes business owners, … very leery of government entities.”
One of Beard’s small business clients through the Economic Development Collaborative is Cesar Miranda, who debuted Highway Tacos in 2024. The permitted mobile Mexican food vendor mainly parks at 3145 E. Highway 246.
“Right about the time he got this up and going, all these pop-ups started,” said Beard, who described the unpermitted canopy vendor down the street from Highway Tacos as unfairly competing with Miranda’s business.
“Cesar is being penalized for … being a good business owner and following every rule,” Beard said.
Supervisor Hartmann’s Chief of Staff Gina Fischer told the Sun that Miranda was among the local restaurant and food truck owners who contacted Hartmann’s office about Highway 246’s unpermitted pop-up trend.
“He had just got his [health] permit when this activity started happening,” Fischer said. “It’s almost across the board Latino businesses that have been contacting us for relief because of the unfair competition.”
Buying dinner or late-night grub from the unpermitted corner pop-up is especially convenient for those who attend sports events at Santa Ynez High School, as the vendor can usually be found in a gravel lot directly across the street from the campus on game nights, including soccer games scheduled for Thursday and Friday evenings this winter.
“It’s unfortunate because I think sometimes the public doesn’t understand the risk they’re taking,” County Health Deputy Director Seifert told the Sun.
Without a recent health scare or spike in food-induced hospitalizations to point to, Seifert said he’s experienced interacting with customers of unpermitted vendors who become upset with EHS during inspections.
“We’re not saying don’t enjoy street food, but just know where it’s coming from. … If they don’t have basic protections like hand washing or refrigeration, you’re really taking a risk,” Seifert said. “Foodborne illnesses are not a fun thing to deal with. … Being exposed to salmonella is not something to mess with.
“The more mild foodborne illnesses may not hospitalize somebody. They may not need to go to the doctor,” he added, “but, … they end up vomiting all night long, and it doesn’t get reported.”
Tag team
Hartmann’s office partnered with the California Highway Patrol (CHP) this year to work toward alleviating the issue along Highway 246.
“Having a collective partnership is crucial to public safety, and we are grateful to her and her team,” Buellton Area CHP Lt. James Ferguson told the Sun via email. “The Buellton area is committed to working with our community partners and county leaders on this issue.”
While EHS has jurisdiction on issuing food safety violations tied to unpermitted vendors reported on Highway 246, CHP can take enforcement action of its own thanks to section 731 of the Streets and Highways Code.
The law applies to vehicles or structures parked or placed, respectively, within any state highway for the purpose of selling something. Deemed a public nuisance, these vehicles or structures—such as the Highway 246 vendor’s white van and canopy tent—are subject to immediate removal by the CHP.
“Currently, we have only issued warnings to these vendors. When issuing warnings, officers will physically wait and observe the vendor leave the location,” Ferguson said. “We are currently researching the legality of the impoundment of the vehicles and equipment. Ultimately, we would like voluntary compliance from the vendor before those actions take place.”
Hartmann’s office is also working to formalize a task force to help city agencies coordinate with EHS on code enforcement actions.
In March, the Santa Barbara County Board of Supervisors voted in favor of Hartmann’s proposal, which is set to return before the board in early 2026 with recommendations on the different agencies and stakeholders across the county that should be included.
Santa Maria’s Code Enforcement Division will be among them. Like EHS officials, Santa Maria Code Enforcement Manager Dawn Palacios remembers noticing the rise in unpermitted sidewalk vendors following Senate Bill 946’s passage in 2018.
“That’s when we noticed them popping up and hearing more about them,” said Palacios, who’s worked for the city since 2012. “You would have your occasional hot dog stands here and there, but before [2018] I had never seen, within the city, these pop-up taco stands.”
In late 2024, Palacios was one of several speakers at a Santa Barbara County Association of Governments (SBCAG) hearing who voiced support for Hartmann’s call to improve coordination between county agencies on food safety enforcement.
Efren Alvarez-Ramos, CEO of local Mexican restaurant chain Efren’s, also spoke at the hearing.
“Personally I’m a little divided on the subject we have today because my father was someone who used to street vend, way before we had a restaurant,” Alvarez-Ramos said at the SBCAG meeting in October 2024.
“If it wasn’t for that, we would never have the business. But ever since we started the restaurant, we have to abide by all the laws that the Health Department puts in front of us,” he said, “but it’s to prevent all the stuff that I didn’t know was happening right now, … all the people where you don’t know where the food is coming from.”
Getting to the root of where some unpermitted mobile vendors from outside of Santa Barbara County are coming from and coordinating with agencies around the state is something County Health Deputy Director Seifert hopes to explore once the task force comes to fruition.
“There’s certainly participants in this process to try to explore how we can coordinate, how we can share information with and cooperate with other counties,” Seifert said.
Another item tied to the task force initiative is a proposal to refresh some of Santa Barbara County’s codes regarding sidewalks and sidewalk use.
“When they move around the corner from 246 onto Refugio [Road], there’s no sidewalk. So do they have a right to set up where there’s no sidewalk if our ordinance specifies that you can only do this on a sidewalk?” Supervisor Hartmann told the Sun. “They’re allowed to do certain things on sidewalks for example.
“But how do you define a sidewalk? … There’s ways to define sidewalks that exclude a lot of areas [with] small definitional changes, trying to refine to the best that we can.”
Reach Senior Staff Writer Caleb Wiseblood at cwiseblood@santamariasun.com.
This article appears in Dec 11 – Dec 18, 2025.