City Hall
Street Food Debate Moves to City Council
At a meeting on a proposed expansion of street food in Seattle this morning, restaurant owners and advocates for the restaurant industry pressed their case against allowing food carts and trucks on many sidewalks and streets in Seattle, arguing, among other things, that the city should require neighboring restaurants' consent before a cart could open; that there should be a mandatory 100-foot setback between mobile vendors and any nearby restaurant; that food carts and trucks should not be allowed within 1,000 feet of schools during school hours; and that permits for mobile vendors should be much higher than the $912 annual permit the city has proposed.
Council members showed little inclination to consider any of the restaurant advocates' proposals except the 100-foot setback. However, in a presentation about what impact the proposed rules would have on the Pike-Pine neighborhood, city staffers demonstrated that a 100-foot requirement would effectively prohibit food carts and trucks throughout the neighborhood, which is filled with restaurants. The presentation showed just a handful of locations where food carts could be set up more than 100 feet away from the closest restaurant. Even a 50-foot setback would dramatically limit mobile vendors' ability to set up shop.
Restaurant owners say that's as it should be.
"The city shouldn't create an unlevel playing field between a brick-and-mortar restaurant and a food cart " by letting carts open outside restaurants while paying less than restaurant owners pay to lease their space, Washington Restaurant Association spokesman Josh MacDonald said. (MacDonald also called street food a "new concept," which would probably surprise anyone who's visited or lived in Vietnam, India, Singapore, or any nation where street food has been around for centuries.)
Restaurant advocates argued that if the city must allow more street food, they should do it as a pilot program in parks and public plazas instead of allowing vendors to set up on public streets and sidewalks.
"We're excited about the prospect of more street food vending downtown … with a couple of caveats," Downtown Seattle Association economic development VP Jon Scholes said. "A lot of the concern you're hearing is really around the idea of having street food vending on sidewalks and curb spaces. [Instead, you should] really focus it around parks and public plazas to start and see how we do, then consider other areas of the city right-of-way to expand it."
The land-use committee will take up the street food issue again next month. Check out PubliCola's ThinkTank debate on street food here.
Council members showed little inclination to consider any of the restaurant advocates' proposals except the 100-foot setback. However, in a presentation about what impact the proposed rules would have on the Pike-Pine neighborhood, city staffers demonstrated that a 100-foot requirement would effectively prohibit food carts and trucks throughout the neighborhood, which is filled with restaurants. The presentation showed just a handful of locations where food carts could be set up more than 100 feet away from the closest restaurant. Even a 50-foot setback would dramatically limit mobile vendors' ability to set up shop.
Restaurant owners say that's as it should be.
"The city shouldn't create an unlevel playing field between a brick-and-mortar restaurant and a food cart " by letting carts open outside restaurants while paying less than restaurant owners pay to lease their space, Washington Restaurant Association spokesman Josh MacDonald said. (MacDonald also called street food a "new concept," which would probably surprise anyone who's visited or lived in Vietnam, India, Singapore, or any nation where street food has been around for centuries.)
Restaurant advocates argued that if the city must allow more street food, they should do it as a pilot program in parks and public plazas instead of allowing vendors to set up on public streets and sidewalks.
"We're excited about the prospect of more street food vending downtown … with a couple of caveats," Downtown Seattle Association economic development VP Jon Scholes said. "A lot of the concern you're hearing is really around the idea of having street food vending on sidewalks and curb spaces. [Instead, you should] really focus it around parks and public plazas to start and see how we do, then consider other areas of the city right-of-way to expand it."
The land-use committee will take up the street food issue again next month. Check out PubliCola's ThinkTank debate on street food here.
