Roadside Vending to Continue in New Mexico
Story-Date: 01:13 p.m. PST Sunday   , December 28, 1997

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Roadside Vending to Continue in New Mexico


By Debra Largo, Indian Country Today, Rapid City, S.D.
Knight-Ridder/Tribune Business News

FARMINGTON, N.M.--Dec. 29--Roadside vendors will continue to operate in the
Farmington/Kirtland region despite recent efforts to drive them from the
properties. Ninety percent of these roadside vendors are Navajo from the
adjacent reservation lands.

According to New Mexico State Police Sergeant Galvan at the State
Police headquarters in Farmington, complaints during recent road
construction in the Kirtland area prompted officers to request vendors to
move from the roadside.

"We were actually called in by the company doing the construction because
of the amount of traffic in one particular place," said Sgt. Galvan. "At
that point, traffic was being funneled into one lane, and workers
determined it to be a hazard."

Sgt. Galvan further indicated that some of the complaints during and since
the construction project have been brought by business owners in the area.

"They complain about the roadside vendors that are competing with them.
They want us to intervene because their businesses have higher costs of
operation than the roadside vendors."

"They accuse them of operating without tax identification numbers and
charge that they are not `legitimate' businesses."

"The highway department rules would make the operation of even established
roadside flea markets and fruit stands in the area illegal," said Sgt.
Galvan.

"We are not bound to enforce highway rules. Our only involvement in this
was because of the hazard created during road construction. We are out of
it now."

Farmington roadside vendor Jim Lang said that the primary vendors are
Navajo, and many are senior citizens, selling food, dolls and miscellaneous
used items to supplement their incomes.

He took offense to the charge that roadside vendors were trying to avoid
paying taxes on their incomes.

"We're just trying to make a living," said Mr. Lang. "I even have a tax
I.D. number. When you don't make any more than I do, you don't have
anything to hide. Why not report it?"

"We've gotten together a petition with about 400 names to try to bring
attention to the situation out here. We have been selling out here a good
while and would like to continue."

According to Anthony Gonzales, spokesman for the State Highway and
Transportation Department in Santa Fe, it is a widely accepted practice to
allow roadside vending within the state of New Mexico.

"That's our right of way," Mr. Gonzales said. "Our right of way area
enforces the right of way issue. There are several areas of New Mexico
that have vendors on the right of way and our position, although it's not
an official position, is that if they are not posing any type of safety
hazard, then they have been allowed to sell their goods from there."

"We don't make it a habit of going in and interferingPespecially if they
are from the area. We've never gone in and said they must stop. It's up to
the right of way agents, they're the ones that go in and assess the
situation."

"There was a situation in Santa Fe where it was actually dangerous for them
(the vendors) and for the motorists. In situations like that, you have to
ask them to move."

Mr. Gonzales said that there should always be enough roadside area that a
vehicle with a blowout or other emergency be able to pull to the side of
the road without endangering lives.

He also said roadside vendors have always been able to operate in New
Mexico and there have always been areas that were popular with them
(the vendors).

Furthermore, decisions on right of way vending were the domain of agents
assigned to determine as to the legality of operating roadside markets in
various locations.

"There are even permits that can be obtained to accommodate the needs of
the roadside vendors," said Mr. Gonzales.

"They can get official permission to sell on the right of way of state
properties."

For the time being, signs remain posted prohibiting roadside sales at
certain locations outside Kirtland, an unincorporated city directly
adjacent to the Navajo Reservation.

Vendors have sought out new locations to sell their wares in both Kirtland
and Shiprock.

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(c) 1997, Indian Country Today, Rapid City, S.D. Distributed by
Knight-Ridder/Tribune Business News.



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