For many members of the University of Wisconsin-Madison community, there is, for some reason, a large cultural significance to eating greasy, fried goods out of a cart in the waning hours of a drunken night out. To some students, right up there with progressivism, UW sports and the live music scene are Jin’s Chicken & Fish and that guy who sells hot dogs at the corner of Broom and State.
It is these faithful bartime eaters who have been disturbed by the recent machinations of the Vending Oversight Committee, which is aiming to yet again displace Madison’s late night eating carts. Most under fire from the VOC are those carts situated on North Frances, where numerous problems have occurred, mostly in the form of noise violations.
Given that the area in question is located directly in an area of quite active nightlife, it is questionable what role these vendors play in area noise pollution. We are all aware of the nature of that location at night, and the people who choose to live in that area know what they are getting into when they sign their leases. Having said that, there are other very reasonable explanations for the banishment of vending carts from North Frances.
The biggest issue with these carts is actually hard to explain but easy to witness. For some reason, drunkenly standing in line for food stirs up a heated passion and unrivaled anger that quite frequently turns Madison’s hungry into violent animals. I’m not sure if it is the boredom of a long wait or the potential that the cart will run out food, but whatever it is, those carts cause serious conflict. I’ve seen firsthand on numerous occasions this “werewolf” symptom of the carts on North Frances.
In addition to the fights the food vendors’ presence undoubtedly contributes to is the neglect with which the operators of the carts treat city regulations. A telling example is the 29 unpaid parking tickets that led to the suspension of Jeff Okafo’s North Frances vending license. For those unfamiliar with Mr. Okafo, he is the J in Jin’s, Madison’s most notorious vending cart. According to Rosemary Lee of the VOC, “this sort of behavior on the part of this vendor has gone on for many, many years.”
Fortunately, a reasonable policy change may be coming to Madison’s vending regulations. On March 17, a vote will take place whether to abolish late-night vending on Frances and move it to the 700 block of State Street, better known as Library Mall. This would be an extremely effective way for the city to continue to provide its students with the late-night food they so constantly crave while improving the safety of getting it.
Not only is the area soon to be receiving a vast upgrade in lighting, it is also much easier to patrol than Frances Street. Students normally do not appreciate a police presence while out at night, but if it helps them obtain and consume food, my guess is it will be appreciated.
The proposed policy will also enhance the control the VOC has over vending operations. Currently, the system is an essential anarchy; carts plant themselves down in a metered spot, first-come, first-served, and dole out swaths of heart attack-inducing food to the university community. By moving vending to Library Mall, spots can be allocated for specific vendors. This would ease the process for cart operators by eliminating the game of musical chairs that currently takes place, while avoiding the hassle of parking in metered spots. In addition, by taking control of this process the VOC can punish those vendors that step over the boundaries of what they should be doing by disallowing them to operate in the area.
Clearly there are certain economic disadvantages of moving the carts away from an area with a high concentration of bars. It is my feeling, however, that if the move were to take place, vendors would see just how loyal their customers are.
This drawback from the student perspective would be the additional two blocks they would have to traverse to get their eats. My gut tells me, however, given the high-caloric nature of the food distributed out of a cart, a little extra walk would not be out of order.
It is clear something should be done regarding the state of late-night vending. Eliminating it is not an option (even though it might do more to mobilize the political activism of the student community than anything since I’ve been on campus). The current VOC proposal is a fair and practical approach to this issue and would serve to seriously increase the beneficial nature of food carts to our campus community.
Ben White ([email protected]) is a senior majoring in political science.
