Mobile vendors could soon sell their wares along the 400 and 500 blocks of Cleveland Street under a proposed exception to the city’s vending rules, part of a broader effort to bring new life to the downtown corridor.
The change is tied to the Cleveland Street Activation Initiative, a $500,000 program led by the Downtown Development Board and the Community Redevelopment Agency to revitalize the downtown core and sustain foot traffic.
“The city would like to help activate that area, so what this ordinance proposes is to make an exception that allows mobile vendors just in the 400 and 500 block of Cleveland Street,” interim City Attorney Owen Kohler said.
The Downtown Development Board began recruiting participants in a June 2 Facebook post, inviting vendors offering artisan goods, handmade products, crafts, hobby items, retail merchandise and pop-up concepts. Businesses and artists can take part through the city’s Mobile Vendor Right-of-Way Program, which the board said allows operation in flexible, non-permanent spaces.