Treats Truck & BGICT Are on the Case!
From here on out we will officially refer to food truck crackdowns as “shitnanigans”. Also, I’m picturing the theme song from Superman playing the background… let’s show them our support!
Posted by Zach Brooks at 2:49 pm, August 18th, 2011 under Street Vendor Issues.
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6 Comments
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Thought you and your readers might want to catch a glimpse at what’s going on in (at least one part of) the national food truck activist community: http://lawprofessors.typepad.com/immigration/2011/08/taco-truck-regulation-redux-dont-mess-with-our-tacos-and-mobile-chefs.html
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WOW! Just WOW!
Carrion, please.
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I wish the food trucks well as they approach City Council. I am on the record many times as stating that’s where their problem lies. Anyone who’s angry at my BID or any other BID has misplaced priorities. If you don’t like the law, complain to the people who make the laws. Bitching about the messenger does no one any good.
But, Zach… I’m a little concerned about a matter of understanding I *thought* we had. Now that you are enthusiastically embracing the concept of “shitnanigans,” can you explain your e-mail to me (as follows)?
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…I have always believed that street vending needs to exist in a gray area between legal and illegal in order to keep it manageable. It can’t be banned outright, because too many poor people make a living from selling food on the street, and NYC needs street food. It’s part of the culture. But the current gourmet trend is not sustainable, and it’s not fair either. Brick and mortar business owners are people too, trying to make a living. And the new school trucks clearly did not respect the balance that allowed for some trucks to find quiet, unobtrusive spots to vend- despite laws that allowed for cops to kick trucks out whenever they wanted.
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So is “shitnanigans” just playing to your readership? Or were you playing me? Is there a food truck problem (as you indicated to me) or is it all “shitnanigans” (as you exclaim to the crowd)?
I’m sure I’m not the only one who’d like to know. I’m sure the food truck vendors would like to know they aren’t also being played by Midtown Lunch.
Rob Byrnes
East Midtown Partnership-
Touche! Although the comment about shitnanigans was more of a joke than anything.
As for the email I sent you, there is nothing in that email that I haven’t said publicly on this site, or in the op-ed published in the New York Times last month. Feel free to look through the archives. Nobody is getting “played” here.
The street vendor issue is a very complex one, especially for somebody like me who really loves food trucks but also understands that the more popular that food trucks get the more likely it is they will be banned. There are vendors who understand that vending is a privilege, and have respected the rights of those who came before them, because they know that is the only way street vending will survive and thrive. And there are those who believe that vending is a right afforded to anybody, and have proceeded selfishly, believing that free market rules. And now that the “free market” has come crashing down on their heads, in the form of a crackdown spurred on by brick and mortar businesses, they want to blame it on others.
Big Gay Ice Cream Truck and the Treats Truck are two new school trucks who not only got into this business for the right reasons, but also invested a lot of time building up their different spots around town. Their livelihood is now in jeopardy because too many new trucks are flocking to Midtown without regard for those who came before them. Many trucks who got kicked out of Midtown West a few months ago, moved to Midtown East… parking in spots that had previously been occupied by other trucks. The glut caused the issues now occurring in Midtown East. Treats Truck didn’t do that. Kim respected the spots of other vendors, and realized that it would jeopardize everybody (including herself) to do something like that.
And for that reason I support anything she does… and think that her getting kicked out of her spot because of the actions of others is, indeed, shitnanigans.
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summary: reading comprehension = fail
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they are both so adorable– this is sure to change things around! (fingers triple crossed!)