Produce-truck owners, residents urge Anaheim to stop ticketing and towing; ask for refunds and ordinance changes

Several Anaheim produce‑truck vendors and community members told the City Council on Sept. 9 that recent ticketing and towing of produce trucks is hurting small businesses and the city’s most vulnerable residents.

Speakers said the vehicles pay multiple permits and registrations — a City of Anaheim business license, an Orange County health permit and a police registration that includes fingerprinting — and that many vendors have operated in Anaheim for decades. “I cannot continue with my business,” vendor Amar Verma (listed in public comment as Amar Verma/Vermejo) told the council. Verma said an officer had been issuing weekly $75 citations and that he paid $600 to retrieve a towed truck.

The concerns focused on a municipal parking ordinance adopted in 2018 that prohibits vehicles taller than 7 feet from parking on residential streets; speakers said that rule was long enforced against…