nothin City Boots Food Carts From York Street | New Haven Independent

City Boots Food Carts From York Street

Paul Bass Photos

Garcia at his cart.

Ernesto Garcia offered a clipboard instead of arepas Thursday to the lunchtime crowd on York Street.

The clipboard contained a petition protesting the city’s decision a day earlier to evict Garcia’s and two other carts, after neighboring storeowners complained the operations infringed on their business.

You guys have no food?” asked one regular lunch customer.

We have food — but we can’t sell it,” Garcia said, proceeding to obtain the customer’s signature.

Wednesday’s bust was part of a larger city crackdown on food cart owners who fail to comply with the conditions of their vendor licenses. City Building Official Jim Turcio told two York Street food vendors and the operator of a flower cart at 11 a.m. Wednesday that they had to pack up within an hour and that they weren’t allowed to come back.

The carts were operating in a residential zone, which the city strictly prohibits, Turcio said.

Garcia’s Ay! Arepa cart has been selling Colombian food at York and Elm for more than three years. No one enforced” the city regulations in the past, said Turcio, who recently took over the building official job and has launched a series of different crackdowns around town.

Local business owners kept calling the city to complain that the food carts were blocking exits” to buildings and blocking sidewalks” — both violations of vending licenses, Turcio said. Vendors had been given a copy” of the regulations when they first applied for and received permits from the city, he said.

He added that 90 percent” of complaints he received about food carts come from other food-cart vendors who are doing what’s right. They’re complaining about the vendors who aren’t.”

Turcio said his department is putting together a map to show vendors where they can legally operate. He also said he’s happy to meet with vendors one on one.

I love the arepa truck!” said Patrick Doolittle (pictured), another regular who signed Garcia’s petition Thursday. I also think it’s not fair. No harm is being done.”

The department Wednesday also shut down a Caseus cheese truck selling food on College Street.

I’m working on it. I gave a call to the mayor yesterday,” said Jason Sobocinski. The building department said where we were on College is near dorms and is residential. This is all news to me.”

Caseus has sold sandwiches from the cheese truck for five years, Sobocinski said. We go somewhere different every day. We use College often. We use York and Chapel often.”

Sebastian Medina-Tayac Photo

Carlos Mendez, who runs the Portobello Latin food cart, said he did not understand why he was shut down on York Street Wednesday morning. His license doesn’t expire for another year. He had not been warned to make way for an event on that street. I’m not sure what happened,” he said.

He said he worries that he will have to fire one of his three employees, who help him and his brother run four food carts in the city. I have a family. My workers have families,” he said. Mendez is looking for new sites for his fourth cart.

Turcio said he has been following up on vendors throughout the city, recently sweeping Long Wharf for those with expired permits or licenses. Earlier this week, he shut down a vendor in front of Five Guys restaurant on Church Street for blocking store entryways and operating within five feet of a fire hydrant.

Aliyya Swaby Photo

Garcia went to the building department at 200 Orange St. Wednesday afternoon to figure out how to get his cart running again.

I lost $1,000 because we’re going to lose our food,” Garcia said. I’m losing money right now.” He said he worries about having to fire his employee running the cart.

Looking at a map with building officials Wednesday, Garcia saw that a block of Broadway around the corner from York and Elm Streets is located in a business zone — making it fair game for licensed vendors. The X” in the above map marks Ay! Arepa’s recently vacated spot. The circled area is the business zone. The rest is residential.

But Turcio said it’s not that easy just to move down a block. Food carts must park more than 50 feet away from each other and more than 20 feet from a fire hydrant. They must allow a walkway for pedestrians that is at least four feet wide. They must be at least 50 feet away from other restaurants.

Those limitations don’t leave room for many carts on that block of Broadway. Turcio added that Yale might own part of the sidewalk in the Broadway district, which would further limit vendors’ options.

At York and Elm, the carts were within a block of Yale undergraduate residential dorms and libraries, meaning customers swarmed them come lunch time. We try to feed all the students,” Garcia said. People are happy because we have great prices.” When he had to shut down hours early Wednesday, customers waited in line like, What happened?’” he said.

Food carts have become more popular in New Haven and cities across the country. In New Haven, the city recently organized a food truck festival to promote the trade. Proponents say they add to the vibrancy of urban life. Some owners of storefront businesses argue the carts have unfair competitive economic advantages. (Click here to read about a battle taking place in New York City.)

A few managers of York/Broadway businesses said they have no trouble with the food carts at York and Elm. Whitney Langford (pictured), who works at Ashley’s Ice Cream, said she planned to buy lunch at a food cart Wednesday, but bought pizza instead, when they were shut down.

Mike Kochis, who manages Ashley’s Ice Cream, said he and his employees eat at the food carts all the time. We let them use the bathroom, gave them change.” He called the city’s decision to close the carts disappointing.”

But George Koutroumanis, who manages Yorkside Pizza & Restaurant, directly across from the carts, said Garcia and Mendez were taking away, instead of contributing” to the neighborhood. Brick and mortar stores,” such as Yorkside, pay rent, cough up property taxes and donate money to local organizations, he said.

The food cart vendors take advantage of turning tides in bustling neighborhoods to make money at their convenience — to the detriment of store owners, Koutroumanis argued. Vending trucks park across the street for extended periods of time, racking up tickets and taking away spaces from law-abiding citizens.”

Students buy food from the carts and sit at Yorkside’s two outdoor tables, reserved for the restaurant’s customers, Koutroumanis said.

Garcia said he was surprised to hear Koutroumanis’ remarks, which he called untrue. At least I know the reason,” he said. Now, he’s planning a move to Broadway, hoping that the students come running, and that city inspectors stay away.

Paul Bass and Sebastian Medina-Tayac contributed reporting.

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