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High Street, San Fer­nan­do bus­tled with ac­tiv­i­ty yes­ter­day. Pedes­tri­ans weaved be­tween de­liv­ery trucks and taxis, while street ven­dors stood watch­ful­ly be­side dis­plays of fruit, belts, un­der­wear, wal­lets and phone ac­ces­sories. De­spite the risk of be­ing fined or hav­ing their goods seized, many re­turned day af­ter day, play­ing cat-and-mouse with mu­nic­i­pal po­lice. They say they have no choice.

They are al­so re­fus­ing to sup­port San Fer­nan­do May­or Robert Par­ris’ plan to re­lo­cate them to the soon-to-open Fruit Court at Har­ris Prom­e­nade.

At last week’s San Fer­nan­do City Cor­po­ra­tion statu­to­ry meet­ing, Par­ris main­tained his hard­line stance: no vend­ing on High Street. He an­nounced the Fruit Court’s June open­ing near En­gine No 11, ex­plain­ing it would pro­vide a struc­tured space for fruit sell­ers, crafts­peo­ple, and leather work­ers, with broad­er in­clu­sion planned.