Head said she probably will withdraw the proposed ordinance she introduced two weeks ago and submit a revised version, perhaps in two weeks.
Don't look for the New Orleans City Council to change the rules for food trucks in the next few weeks. After a long and sometimes contentious public hearing Tuesday, Councilwoman Stacy Head said she won't ask the council to vote on the issue this week.
In fact, Head said, she probably will withdraw the proposed ordinance she introduced two weeks ago and submit a revised version, perhaps in two weeks. The council could not vote on that measure until next month at the earliest, and it was unclear from their comments at the hearing how many members might be ready to vote for it.
In an effort to gain more support for her effort to liberalize the rules for food trucks, Head said she is ready to scale back some of her proposals, even though she personally considers the concessions unwise. For example, she said, she is ready to expand both the area in the Central Business District and the zone around regular restaurants where the trucks could not operate.
Six of the seven council members attended at least part of an Economic Development Committee meeting at which both supporters and critics of mobile food vendors spoke. Although no council members said they would oppose any easing of the rules for the vendors, some indicated concern about several issues, including health and safety standards and whether the proposed changes would hurt regular restaurants.
Andrew Legrand, an attorney for the New Orleans Food Truck Coalition, said the trucks are engaged in a "David vs. Goliath fight" against the restaurant industry, but Councilwoman LaToya Cantrell said such a description was not helpful. She said she wants to build a consensus for some changes while protecting existing restaurants.
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Empanada Intifada has taken part in several local food truck rallies.
Paul Rotner, president of the New Orleans chapter of the Louisiana Restaurant Association, said his group's members "do not oppose food trucks conceptually" and believe the two types of operations "can coexist." But he said food trucks have unfair advantages because, for example, they pay far less in property taxes.
Rotner also said brick-and-mortar restaurants face stricter sanitation standards and inspections than food trucks -- a claim disputed by Legrand and Head.
City Health Commissioner Dr. Karen DeSalvo said she is working with state health officials on updating sanitary regulations for all food sellers but was not yet ready to make any recommendations. That prompted Head to suggest opponents were using ostensible health concerns as a "subterfuge" to delay changes in the city's 50-year-old laws governing mobile food vendors.
Head's proposal would increase the total number of available permits for such vendors from 100 to 200, though that number includes all types of vendors, from fruit peddlers to Lucky Dog and ice cream sellers, not just full-fledged food trucks. It would allow food trucks to set up shop in one spot for up to four hours, compared with just 45 minutes at present.
Under the current law, the trucks are not allowed anywhere in the French Quarter and Central Business District, defined as the area from the river to Claiborne Avenue and from Esplanade Avenue to Howard Avenue. The ordinance Head introduced two weeks ago would have reduced those boundaries to the area from the river to the middle of Rampart Street and from Esplanade to Poydras Street, although the Frenchmen Street commercial section between Esplanade and Royal Street would be added. Head said Tuesday she now is prepared to keep the Uptown boundary as Howard Avenue.
Perhaps the most controversial change Head has proposed would reduce the off-limits zone around a bricks-and-mortar restaurant from 600 feet to 50 feet. She said Tuesday she is ready to increase the distance somewhat, perhaps to 75 or 100 feet, although she indicated she agrees with court decisions in some other cities that such limits are unconstitutional.
Food truck proponents said strong restaurants don't need to be protected from competition. In fact, they said, many restaurants welcome food trucks in their vicinity because they increase foot traffic and thus attract new customers.
Head's proposed ordinance would prohibit food trucks from operating in front of residences or in any area zoned for purely residential use. However, Councilwoman Cynthia Hedge-Morrell said she thinks the trucks are most badly needed in residential neighborhoods that have few if any restaurants, such as eastern New Orleans and the Upper and Lower 9th Ward.She said they should not be allowed to operate near established restaurants. "I'm all for food trucks, but I don't want them to be in competition with people who struggled for years" to establish bricks-and-mortar eating places, Hedge-Morrell said.
Head said she thinks such competition is at the heart of American values.
Head's original proposal called for raising the annual license fee for food trucks to $600, nearly double the current figure. She said she will revise that provision to make the initial fee $805 and annual renewals $755.
A representative of Mayor Mitch Landrieu's administration was in the council chamber during the hearing but did not speak.