Midtown Lunch

Big surprise!  It’s day one for the La Cense Burger Truck and by 12:15pm the line was already around the corner of 48th Street, and down Park Ave.  Clearly Midtown Lunchers love the idea of eating a burger from a truck, although if that was completely true the Steak Truck (just one block away) would have a similar line.  (It doesn’t.)  I guess people love the idea of eating burger from a truck made from grass fed beef!

I bypassed the PR lady escorting other bloggers directly to their free burgers, and waited in line to pay for mine like a regular customer.  Your first look at the thing is after the jump…

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It looks like the support that Midtown Lunchers have shown in the comments towards vendors like the Tripie Crepe Cart (who was kicked out of Columbus Circle by the cops a few weeks ago), and the Street Sweets Truck (who was kicked out of a spot on 55th and 6th) have not gone unnoticed. Sean Basinski, the lawyer behind the Street Vendor Project (which puts on the Vendy Awards), is in Africa on a Fulbright Scholarship researching the issues street vendors face in Nigeria, but still managed to send this email urging Midtown Lunchers to get involved:

Zach, how are things? I’m in Nigeria for another month, but I just checked out your site and read about the police harassment to some of the upscale carts.

You are right that this kind of thing happens to Street Vendor Project members all the time. We had a Tibetan art seller kicked out of what appears to be that very same place on Columbus Circle. I tried to argue to him that it was a legal spot but he was understandably too scared to go back. But now that you are giving the issue attention, people are outraged, as they should be. It strikes me that there is an opportunity here to organize all the cart-loving customers on your site, for the benefit of all vendors, upscale and downscale alike. And really show some power.

For example I would need to check the files but I think that Perez [the cop who forced the crepe cart to move] is a guy we frequently have problems with.

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via Twitter this morning: “Hello, today our sweet spot is 53 b’tween 5th & 6th. next to Moma. Come by 7 say hi & pick up some great sweets. We will b sampling @ noon.”  Outside MOMA?!?  One of the most desirable tourist foot traffic blocks in Midtown?  I’m sure you won’t get trouble from any of the established vendors on *that* block. Here’s some advice for the Street Sweets Truck if they want to avoid a repeat of the 55th Street fiasco.  You use twitter.  You have the support of the food blogs.  Pick a less popular spot, and start building your customer base.  Don’t park in front of MOMA!

Shortly after we posted about the new Tripie Crepe Cart in Columbus Circle, they disappeared.  The owner checked in at the end of last week to fill us in on what happened.

“We moved downtown, 8 street bet. 3+4th ave, because we had troubles with the hot dog vendor and then when the police that told us to go… It was very disappointing and unpleasent. I hope that we won’t face the same problems in our new location.”

But were you in a legal spot in Columbus Circle?

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It’s starting to seem like all carts all the time these days… Sarah DiGregorio becomes the latest reporter to shine a light on the difficulties facing street vendors these days. Her interesting article in today’s Village Voice focuses on how hard it is to get a license, and the black market that has arisen out of the demand created by a 1979 law restricting the number of licenses available citywide to 3,100. But according to the piece, help might be on the way:

A bill introduced by Council member Charles Barron, which is currently in front of the Committee for Consumer Affairs, would increase the cap on food cart permits to 25,000 and provide for a 5 percent annual increase. Giving all vendors the chance to sell legally would eliminate the black-market system. Bloomberg’s office didn’t respond to a call for comment, but the mayor is thought to be against the bill.

But is the black market for licenses really “the biggest problem in the vending world” today?

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It looks like Midtown isn’t the only place where businesses are calling the cops on street vendors.  Eater is reporting that the Wafels and Dinges truck had the cops called on them yesterday morning by “the management at the Saatchi & Saatchi building at 375 Hudson.” It went on to say that “a building insider told the truck’s staff that there had been a concern their presence made the area “look unprofessional”.

No word on the end result, but earlier this week 1350 6th Ave. successfully chased the brand new Street Sweets Truck from their spot on 55th btw. 5+6th (claiming the truck was ruining the al fresco dining area in front of one of the building’s restaurants.) Much like Midtown Lunchers came to the defense of the Street Sweets Truck, waffle fans on Hudson showed their support on the Wafels and Dinges’ blackboard.

Could this be just the beginning of a wave of mobile vendor harassment?

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The NYPost today reports the completely-not-shocking news that street vendor licenses registered to people who are now deceased are being renewed and sometimes sold to other vendors. Considering how long the waiting list for a vendors license is, I’m not surprised that a family would continue to use (or even sell) their dead uncle’s license.  The shocking bit is how much these license renewals “lease” for on the black market.  Maybe if the city increased the number of licenses that were available, there wouldn’t be an illegal black market “leasing” these things for thousands of dollars. (Thanks to Lunch’er Dave for the tip)

This news about the new Street Sweets Truck and their feud with the building on 55th and 6th came in late on Friday: “Sorry to disappoint, but we’ve been forced to move because of the pressure that Bistro Milano & Pret a Manger exerted on the building & the NYPD.” According to the owner of the truck it turns out the spot was technically illegal (you are not allowed to vend from a “metered spot”), so despite the best effort of Midtown Lunch’ers to support the new truck and put pressure on Bistro Milano and Pret, the NYPD was forced by the building to remove the truck. This came a day after representatives from both the NYPD & the FDNY told the Street Sweets truck they were doing nothing wrong.

The truck is off today for a private event, but will return tomorrow to look for a new spot in Midtown.

It sounds like 55th Street btw. 5+6th has been nothing but trouble for the brand new Street Sweets Truck since they popped up last week. On Monday, they complained that “politics” forced them to move to a different spot. Commenter “bm2e” seemed pretty pissed: “This is BULLSHIT. The carts on the block at 55th and 6th are a standard hot dog cart (pretty good, reasonable prices) and a mediocre halal cart that isn’t even there every day. Add to this poor showing the fact that the crap Italian restaurant in the first floor of 1350 6th Ave actually went and rented a U-Haul to prevent the truck from parking.” (I got confirmation that Bistro Milano, the Italian restaurant inside 1350, did indeed rent a UHaul and put it in the spot to prevent them from parking there on Monday.)

Well, it looks like it all came to a head yesterday when I noticed the scene above in front of the truck just before Noon. I asked one of the cops what was going on and he seemed all too excited to tell me.

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