City of Rochester Seeks Food Truck Feedback

This article was scraped from Rochester Subway. This is a blog about Rochester history and urbanism has not been published since 2017. The current owners are now publishing link spam which made me want to preserve this history.. The original article was published August 19, 2014 and can be found here.

   Last week I grabbed lunch at Pizza Stop - one of my absolute, hands down, favorite food joints in Rochester. After placing my order and (stepping promptly to the right) I noticed a petition* taped to the countertop. It was asking the City of Rochester to provide compensation to downtown merchants who lost business during a lunchtime food truck/cart     event

the week before. The petition argued that the City's promotion of the food trucks caused nearby brick & mortar shops to lose money...

   For a moment my heart turned heavy and I nearly lost my appetite. This is a very complex issue - like having to choose between two really good friends. Is there no way for traditional restaurants to coexist with the rubber wheeled variety? I quietly asked myself, "would these Pizza guys banish me for life if they ever saw me chasing the Poutine truck down State Street?"

This also happens to be a very timely issue because the City of Rochester is hosting a public forum this Wednesday, August 20th. The City is looking to put a permanent food truck program in place by January 1, 2015 and they are seeking public comments regarding the current     Food Truck Pilot Program

.

   Meanwhile, the     Rochester Food Truck Alliance

is pushing for additional changes to the program before that legislation goes into effect. Current regulations require food trucks to park in pre-determined, address-specific locations. The alliance of food truck owners would like more mobility, similar to the system currently in place in Buffalo.

In a recent statement, Elizabeth Clapp, co-owner of     Le Petit Poutine

and spokesperson for ROCFTA said, "We need city officials to see that food trucks are a way to enhance the Rochester landscape. What better way to do that than with comments from our food truck customers? ... We are asking food truck fans to come to the meeting to show their support."

That meeting will be held at City Hall, 30 Church Street, in room 302A on Wednesday 8/20, from 5-7pm.

But what do we do? Keep the trucks on a leash, or let them roam free? This is getting heavy. I'm slightly afraid to state my opinion outright for fear I might be greeted with a "NO SOUP FOR YOU" next time I dine out.

*In all fairness to Pizza Stop, the petition was also spotted at other downtown eateries.