The Badger Herald

NEWS

City officials discuss moving food carts off Langdon

Ben Smidt

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by Megan Costello

Wednesday, December 1, 2004

Late-night vending opportunities in the downtown area are in the midst of changing locations. The Vending Oversight Committee continued to work through a proposal which would restrict vending in residential areas, such as Langdon Street, during a meeting Tuesday evening at the Madison Municipal Building.

Under the proposal, vendors would be able to operate in areas close to State Street as well as on Library Mall.

In a meeting Tuesday night, the committee unanimously approved an ordinance allowing vending on the 700 block of State Street, the 400 block of North Frances Street, the 400 block of North Broom Street and the 100 and 300 blocks of Johnson Street.

This report and approval will go to the City Council Dec. 14 before it can be finalized into law.

If the law passes, vendors will be restricted from vending in residential areas between 9 p.m. and 6 a.m.

Committee chair Karen Foxgrover said she does not think students will be bothered by vending on Johnson Street because the area is not strictly housing and many businesses also operate in the area.

Jeff Okafo, owner of Jin’s Chicken and Fish, spoke to the committee expressing his concern with the ordinance. He asked the committee to view his business operation before passing a regulation that would remove him from his current vending area.

Okafo added his cart is not solely to blame for the noise complaints from Langdon Street fraternities.

“The complaints and problems [on Langdon Street] are only there when high activity is there,” Okafo told the committee. “[I] think you’re going through this process for nothing.”

Okafo noted the new vending locations under the ordinance are a cause for concern with keeping his current clientele.

“We have a respected clientele, and we’d like to keep that type of clientele,” Okafo said. “We don’t want to move [to] a different location. We haven’t had that many problems.”

The committee also nitpicked portions of the new ordinance including the requirement of fire extinguishers and adherence to public health regulations.

“In the last three years now, we’ve had a housing inspector inspect all carts, and he suggested they all have fire extinguishers,” Warren Hansen, street vending coordinator, said.

Members also disputed regulations on cart sizes as well as parking issues. Hawk Schenkel, committee member and owner of Hawk’s Bar and Grill, said an attempt to enforce cart sizes would be unnecessary. According to Schenkel, vendors will not tow large carts for efficiency’s sake nor will the city go to lengths to measure each cart.

The cart-size regulations were removed from the ordinance.

There is no written language in the ordinance regarding the seniority of craft vendors on Library Mall or on the proximity of unlicensed persons accepting donations close to craft vendors.

“There should be some respect for people who go through channels to have a safe space,” said committee member Tori Pettaway.

The proximity of unlicensed persons accepting donations next to vendors was moved to a future meeting. Committee members expressed concern over protecting vendor space rights but felt it was also a panhandling issue they could not oversee.