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Jin’s food cart owner losing license
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While Madison’s City Council voted to suspend the vending license from the owner of Jin’s Chicken and Fish food cart Tuesday, the business itself can continue to operate.
“Jin’s Chicken and Fish would not go out of business per se … others can operate it,” said Ald. Mike Verveer, District 4, adding the suspension deals with the individual, not the cart.
Jeffery Okafo, owner of Jin’s, received 29 parking tickets over the last year and was arrested in May for resisting an officer who was trying to issue a ticket.
Okafo said he is trying to figure out the future of Jin’s food cart without him but said people should “keep eating Jin’s.”
“We’re trying to find an individual who can do what I do,” Okafo said, adding so far he has not found anyone. “I deal with the late-night college crowd. I enjoy it. It’s my job. It’s my business. It’s my life.”
Ald. Eli Judge, District 8, explained to the City Council how busy Jin’s gets around bar time on a typical weekend night.
“Knowing the potentially intergalactic popularity of this cart on Frances Street… I have little worry that the success of this cart will continue for decades to come,” Judge said.
In a Vending Oversight Committee meeting, the city’s assistant district attorney, Lara Mainella, recommended revocation of Okafo’s license until April 2009.
“The VOC felt that that was too strict a penalty, that it would be certainly be a death penalty for Mr. Okafo’s business,” said Rosemary Lee, a member of the VOC.
Khaja Din, Okafo’s attorney, said Okafo lost his mother just over a year ago and took on $8,000 in funeral expenses.
Din said this loss was an economic hit for Okafo because his mother used to watch the meters while he was buying supplies each night.
Okafo told the council he paid all 29 of his parking tickets and apologized for letting them accumulate.
Verveer said he regrets the actions being taken against Okafo but said a similar incident occurred in 2004 when Jin’s was located on Langdon Street.
A 2004 ordinance banned vending on Langdon Street due to noise complaints from residents of the area.
Vendors were allowed to relocate to the 700 block of State Street, the 400 block of North Broom Street, the 100 and 300 blocks of Johnson Street, and the 400 block of Frances Street, where Jin’s cart is currently stationed.
“The bottom line is that this sort of behavior on the part of this vendor has gone on for many, many years, unfortunately,” Verveer said. “It goes beyond parking citations.”
Lee said the VOC took the issue very seriously and has been sympathetic to Okafo’s situation but reminded the council that having a street cart is a “privilege, not a right.”
Okafo said he does not have another job to go to and could be homeless for the next six months if he cannot find one.
“Jeff needs to be there; he is Jin’s Fish and Chicken. No one can make that many chicken and fish sandwiches on a busy night,” Din said.
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It’s like Groundhog day with this guy. Hes totally incapable of staying out of trouble and following the rules.
Jin’s is absolutely the worst. It is entirely unreasonable for them to break noise ordinances from 2 to 4 in the morning, even on weeknights.
Unfortunately it sounds like the best thing would be for this guy to move on and find a different line of work.