Frantic lovers on a last-minute hunt for flowers on Feb. 14 will find their task a bit more complicated this year. In time for Valentine’s Day, Santa Maria has enacted a 45-day moratorium on outdoor flower sales. That means no cardboard signs advertising cheap bouquets, no isolated sellers braving the drizzle to make a few dollars, and no makeshift white buckets brimming with roses on local street corners.
According to the moratorium, approved by the City Council on Jan. 20, only established businesses selling flowers are allowed to sell their colorful merchandise on the streets. A permanent ban on unauthorized flower sales is expected to go before the council on Feb. 17.
Until then, officers with the Santa Maria Police Department and other city officials will be monitoring the streets to prevent the sale of any contraband blossoms. Violations are considered misdemeanors and carry a maximum penalty of a $1,000 fine and six months in jail.
Under city code, established businesses’ outdoor flower sales are allowed with a temporary-use permit from the city. Such sales can be held for a maximum of 72 consecutive hours no more than once every four months.
“The moratorium was the only way to get something in effect by Valentine’s Day,” Assistant City Attorney Phillip Sinco said.
“‘Brick and mortar’ businesses have the privilege to hold sidewalk sales up to four times a year,” he explained. “The city realized that by making the ordinance, it would be taking the ability away from florists. The council’s goal is not to punish florists. It’s to prevent loopholes.”
The issue first came before the City Council last year when a handful of local florists and growers began speaking out during public comment periods against unlicensed outdoor flower sales.
Bill Tomasini, owner of A Little Something in Santa Maria, said he had many reasons for bringing the issue before the City Council.
“I wasn’t just sitting here going, ‘Oh, poor me. Look at all this business I’m losing,’” Tomasini said.
In fact, the businessman said while he’s glad the moratorium has gone into effect, he doesn’t “expect to see a huge turnaround in business or the city’s coffers to be full from the additional tax money.”
Tomasini said asking the City Council for help was about looking at the bigger picture. When unlicensed flower vendors set up shop on the streets of Santa Maria, he explained, “It looks like a tent city, and that’s not the image we want in our beautiful city.”
“It’s also a matter of principle and fair business practices,” he said.
Unlike street vendors, he said, established businesses—such as florists and grocery stores—are required to pay licensing fees and taxes to the city. They also have to pay rent and other bills to maintain their facilities.
“I have no problem with legitimate competition between businesses,” Tomasini said. “But we can’t sell flowers the same way as people on the streets.”
Not all Santa Marians, however, agree with Tomasini and the council’s resulting decision.
“I think there are more important things going on in the city that need attention than creating an interim emergency ordinance to cut down on people selling flowers out of buckets on Broadway,” said Ernest Armenta, the only person to speak against the ordinance at City Council meetings. “We’ve got people being robbed and losing their homes.”
And for legitimate flower-selling businesses, Armenta has this message: “If you can’t compete with the guy out there with the bucket, you need to get out there with a bucket yourself and hustle.”
Still, business owners like Tomasini maintain that if street vendors want to sell flowers, they should have to do it legally, just like everyone else.
“Let them go to Farmers’ Market and set up a booth and do it right,” Tomasini said. “I think it’s a problem because a lot of the street vendors don’t want to follow the rules. They don’t want to have to report to anyone.”
Contact Staff Writer Amy Asman at aasman@santamariasun.com.
This article appears in Feb 12-19, 2009.
