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Food Truck Vendors Lash Out at Proposed City Council Bill
By
John Del Signore
Published Jun 17, 2010
Modified Jun 17, 2010
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By
John Del Signore
Published Jun 17, 2010
Modified Jun 17, 2010
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Yesterday the City Council held a hearing on proposed legislation that would revoke food truck vendors’ licenses if they received more than three parking tickets per year (which is common). Some 60 people packed the hearing room, which was ultimately closed due to overcapacity. Miss Softee live-blogged the rancorous meeting for Midtown Lunch, the Post covered it, and Diner's Journal dropped 1,265 words on the debate. To help you sort out your feelings on this divisive issue, here are our five favorite comments made during the public hearing:
- "How can you go to a business owner who has basically sunk everything that they have in this world into a business and say, 'If you get three parking tickets you will potentially lose your business'? Especially when we all know in this city... there are overzealous ticketing agents and a lot of it can be discretionary," said Grant Di Mille, president of Street Sweets, a baked-goods truck.
- "There is a vendor on 86th and Lex who thinks that he owns the northeast corner, and he doesn't. And that bothers me," the bill's co-sponsor, Council Member Jessica Lappin said, referring to Patty's Tacos, which mysteriously was not in its usual spot yesterday.
- "Everybody loves the schnitzel," declared Schnitzel and Things operator Oleg Voss. "We invite you to Schnitzel and Things. The bill will be dropped as soon as you taste the first bite."
- The owner of the Oxford Cafe pizza and sandwich shop on Lexington Avenue at 52th Street said the trucks are replicating like a virus. "It started with one, and now there are two or three in front of our cafe,” he said. “They block foot traffic to our store and the view of our entrance, and we’ve seen a drop-off in our revenues.” (To which one food truck operator replied, "When did competition become illegal in America?")
- "This bill is ridiculous," said Councilman Charles Barron. "I’m embarrassed the City Council would come forward with a bill that causes more problems for vendors."
Oleg from the Schnitzel & Things Truck presented a petition to Council Member Lappin with over 5,000 signatures in opposition to the bill, and the Bloomberg administration submitted a letter calling the bill “well intentioned” but “too punitive for such routine” parking offenses. Miss Softee reports that Lappin "seemed to be receptive (at least on the surface) to working with the vendors. According to her no law gets passed exactly how it is written the very first time."
Tagged
City Council
food truck
food vendor
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John Del Signore
Originally from the Albany area, John Del Signore has called NYC home since 1995. In addition to his thousands of meticulously-crafted bespoke blog posts for Gothamist, his writing has also been published in The Awl, Deadspin, The Nervous Breakdown, and performed at The Brick Theater in Brooklyn.
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