Tag: food carts

Another Chicago Alderman Moves to Keep Food Carts Out of Affluent, North Side Neighborhood

by Hilary Gowins, posted in huffington post

Originally published on Huffington Post.

Another Chicago alderman is moving to limit where newly legal food carts can operate in the city.

Alderman Michele Smith, 43rd Ward, introduced an ordinance Dec. 9 that would ban food carts from a number of heavily trafficked areas in the popular Lincoln Park neighborhood.

The neighborhood is a prime destination for retailers and restaurateurs alike — the proposed ordinance goes on at length about Lincoln Park’s economic vitality.

“Lincoln Park is a diverse arts and cultural hub that serves as a leading destination for tourists visiting the City of Chicago,” the ordinance reads.

There’s no question that a major driver behind Smith’s move is to protect existing brick-and-mortar businesses. Her ordinance notes that Lincoln Park “has the highest ratio of pedestrian-retail street designations throughout the City of Chicago.”

The ordinance also says that Lincoln Park is home to over 300 retail food licenses.

Despite spending so much time and energy explaining Lincoln Park’s existing retail and dining options, Smith ultimately argues that restricting food carts is necessary to protect pedestrian accessibility and public safety.

It’s an action that seems more appropriate for a homeowner’s association than a city government plagued with police corruption and a massive debt crisis.

Smith isn’t the first Chicago official to use her power to restrict where food carts can operate.

On Sept. 24, Chicago City Council lifted its ban on food carts. But less than a day after this decision, Alderman Brendan Reilly, 42nd Ward, proposed limitations in more than 30 areas downtown and in the city’s River North neighborhood. These restrictions passed City Council in October. Alderman Tom Tunney, 44th Ward, pushed through an ordinance in October that limits where food-cart vendors can operate in Wrigleyville, keeping vendors away from busy hubs along Addison and Clark streets near Wrigley Field.

Instead of allowing vendors and customers to decide where food carts can operate, Chicago government officials are taking pre-emptive action to keep upscale neighborhoods such as Wrigleyville and Lincoln Park free of food-cart vendors.

Food carts should be a boon to Chicago neighborhoods, with the potential to bringup to 6,400 new jobs and create more than $8 million in new local sales-tax revenue.
While many of Chicago’s more than 1,500 food-cart vendors are eager for the chance to serve their delicious food in affluent areas, they primarily serve low-income neighborhoods where food options are often scarce. And they are a beloved part of their communities – kids pick up elotes for after-school snacks, walkers grab champurrado on cool mornings, and anyone looking for a delicious lunch knows vendors’ tamales won’t disappoint.

Unfortunately, the hardworking food-cart vendors who fought so long for the city to recognize their industry now operate at the mercy of all-powerful local aldermen, many of whom use their authority to grant political favors and keep out businesses they don’t like.

Now that Chicago has lifted its ban on food carts, there should be no restrictionson where vendors can operate. City Council’s Sept. 24 vote to legalize the industry was a huge victory for the small-time entrepreneur – it would be a mistake for aldermen to continue walking it back.

Chicago Aldermen Giveth, Taketh Away Food-cart Freedom

by Hilary Gowins, posted in huffington post

Originally published on Huffington Post.

A month after Chicago overturned its ban on food carts, city aldermen are poised to restrict them once again.

Less than a day after Chicago lifted its ban on food carts on Sept. 24, city aldermen with a history of limiting the city’s food options started making moves to restrict vendors’ ability to operate in lucrative locations.

The city’s license committee approved restrictions in the area surrounding Wrigley Field and other parts of Chicago’s Lakeview neighborhood on Oct. 27 at the behest of Alderman Tom Tunney, a former restaurant owner. Alderman Brendan Reilly also proposed limitations in more than 30 areas downtown and in the River North neighborhood — the license committee moved these forward as well.

City Council will vote on the proposed food-cart bans on Oct. 28, the same day aldermen are scheduled to vote on a highly contentious property-tax hike worth$588 million, making it the largest tax hike in modern Chicago history.

Food carts should be a boon to Chicago neighborhoods, with the potential to bring up to 6,400 new jobs and create more than $8 million in new local sales-tax revenue. Unfortunately, the hardworking food-cart vendors who fought so long for the city to recognize their industry now operate at the mercy of all-powerful local aldermen, many of whom use their authority to grant political favors and keep out businesses they don’t like.

Chicago’s more than 1,500 food-cart vendors are primarily Latino and serve low-income neighborhoods where food options are often scarce. They are a beloved part of their communities – kids pick up elotés for after-school snacks, walkers grab champurrado on cool mornings and anyone looking for a delicious lunch knows vendors’ tamales won’t disappoint.

Now that Chicago has lifted its ban on food carts, there should be no restrictionson where vendors can operate. City Council’s Sept. 24 vote to legalize the industry was a huge victory for the small-time entrepreneur — it would be a mistake to walk it back.

Chicagoans hungry for food carts

by Hilary Gowins, posted in op-ed

Op-ed published in the Chicago Sun Times.

Hours before restaurants open their doors in Little Village, Claudia Perez sets up her cart along 26th Street or one of the side streets nearby.

Claudia is 62. She came to the United States from Mexico in 1995. For more than 10 years, she has been selling tamales, elotes and horchata out of her food cart to support her family. It’s hard work: She’s up most mornings before the sun preparing batches of what she’ll sell that day. Come rain or shine or snow, Claudia is out in the neighborhood, serving hungry people as they head to work.

Claudia is one of nearly 1,500 food-cart street vendors in Chicago. But the city doesn’t welcome the flavors she provides her community.

The City Council is likely to vote in September on an ordinance to finally recognize food carts in Chicago, putting food carts on a level playing field with other food options in the city, such as food trucks and brick-and-mortar restaurants. It would also help ensure the industry is safe – vendors would have to meet citywide safety standards and prepare food in a licensed kitchen. They would also be subject to inspection by the health department.

The Illinois Policy Institute surveyed 200 food-cart vendors across the city, learning what their lives and businesses are like. This research uncovered something long suspected: Food carts could be a boon to Chicago.

Chicagoans already love food carts – vendors serve as many as 50,000 meals per day.

Vendors know this. If Chicago recognizes the industry, 79 percent of the vendors surveyed said they would expand their business to capitalize on the high demand that already exists.

The City Council should take note. Chicago is one of the only major U.S. cities that bans food carts; these businesses are recognized in 23 of the 25 largest cities in the country. If the city embraces food carts, it could see up to 6,400 new jobs and up to $8.5 million in new local sales-tax revenue. This is an easy way to provide additional revenue for a city staring down a billion-dollar budget deficit while helping some of the areas in the city that are hurting the most.

Neighborhoods from Little Village to Humboldt Park to Avondale already are home to hundreds of vendors. These communities rally around food-cart culture – kids pick up elotes for an after-school snack, walkers grab champurrado on cool mornings and anyone looking for a delicious lunch knows vendors’ tamales won’t disappoint. People drive from hundreds of miles away to get a taste of Chicago’s food-cart fare.

It’s time for the city to recognize this burgeoning industry. Embracing food-cart culture means more revenue for the city and greater access to food throughout Chicago’s neighborhoods. It also means more opportunity for people who want to work hard and make a living as food entrepreneurs.

It’s the right thing to do.

An easy win for Chicago: Legalize food carts already

by Hilary Gowins, posted in op-ed

Op-ed published in Crain’s Chicago Business.

Chicago leaders are wringing more revenue out of taxpayers who use cellphones, watch Netflix, own property and buy locally via increased taxes and surcharges in a desperate attempt to plug an expected billion-dollar budget deficit.

But there’s a way aldermen can raise revenue and do something good at the same time: legalize street vending.

Do this, and Chicago could welcome more than 6,400 new jobs. It also could generate up to $8.5 million in new local sales tax revenue, according to original analysis by the Illinois Policy Institute.

Chicago lags behind when it comes to this burgeoning new industry. Street vending from food carts already is legal in 23 of the 25 largest cities in the U.S. And despite the city’s ban, Chicago already is home to a vibrant street-vending community. An estimated 1,500 vendors serve 50,000 meals per day—primarily in lower-income communities such as Little Village, Back of the Yards and Humboldt Park.

The 200 vendors surveyed by the institute all were Hispanic; nearly 80 percent are middle-aged; more than half are women; and 95 percent work to support at least one dependent. Their elotes, champurrado and tamales are famous for miles around.

The institute’s economic experts project that street-vendor take-home pay could grow by up to $60 million if the city voted to legalize street vending. Seventy-nine percent of vendors surveyed by the institute said they would expand their business if the city legalized street vending, and 64 percent of vendors said they would add more carts.

VOTING IN SEPTEMBER
An ordinance to allow food-cart street vending sits before the city’s Committee on License and Consumer Protection. Aldermen are expected to vote on the measure in September. The ordinance would expand the city’s existing frozen desserts ordinance to include prepared-food carts and would require vendors to prepare food in a city-licensed kitchen. Vendors would be able to acquire a license from the city for $350.

Mayor Rahm Emanuel has said ensuring access to good food is a priority. In July, he secured a one-year federal grant to run produce buses in neighborhoods considered food deserts. In 2014, the city issued its first “emerging business permit” to allow a local nonprofit to open healthy-food kiosks in the Loop.

But city officials don’t need to do anything fancy to increase food options. Legalizing food-cart street vending would ensure access to healthy, safe food for neighborhoods across Chicago and would open the door for residents to earn a living doing what they love. It wouldn’t hurt Chicago’s pocketbook, either.