While food trucks aren’t normally seen in the Syracuse University area outside of special events, a city councilor’s proposal to ease regulations on the mobile eateries might change that.

Councilor-at-large Michael Greene has proposed legislation that would decrease the annual license fees for food truck owners and increase the number of available locations where they could operate. One of the new spots would include Walnut Park, behind Bird Library.

In interviews with The Daily Orange, food truck owners said they were generally pleased with Greene’s proposal. However, they also said the legislation was partially unfair because it doesn’t lower their fees.

Food truck owners said they have been disappointed for years by the city’s high license fees — which currently range from $500 to $1,500, depending on the quality of the location — and the lack of spots with decent foot traffic.

Paul Waleski, owner of the hotdog cart Tall Paul’s The Dog Cabin, pressed Greene at the Department of Public Works meeting on Tuesday, wanting to know why Greene’s proposal would lower the annual fee for food truck licenses from $1,500 to $500 but food cart operators would be left paying $1,000 more.

“If I’m paying $1,500, I believe they should be paying $1,500 because that’s the amount I’ve been paying for 25 years,” Waleski said.

Greene said that the locations for food carts are better than the spots for food trucks. He said there are 12 mobile food vendors with licenses to operate on city property, only one of which is a food truck.

That food truck — Lady Bug Lunch Box —  has been located beside Firefighter’s Memorial Park for almost 10 years, said owner Pamela Dwyer. Dwyer said she tried several years ago to get the council to expand available locations, but nothing ever came of her requests.

Food trucks are only able to operate in one designated location that is assigned by lottery. Owners said the lack of foot traffic in the available spots makes it difficult to turn a profit and that the lottery is “unfair” because a food truck could build up a following only to lose its spot the next year.

The food carts generally have spots with high foot traffic, Greene said. Walski’s cart is located at the corner of South Warren Street and Madison Street, near the AXA towers and the Central Library in downtown Syracuse.

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Pat Orr, owner of the PB and J’s Lunch Box truck, said $1,500 might be a high price for food carts, but they’ve generally been more successful than food trucks in the city. Food carts don’t have to compete for spots like food trucks do because they’re located on the sidewalk instead of the streets, she said.

Orr said she’s happy with Greene’s proposal and the new locations, particularly those along Walnut Park.   

“They’re trying to work with us,” she said. “They know there’s a problem, and they’re trying to make a change. This is the first time there’s ever been an attempt to make things better.”  

Orr said that assigning an area where a few trucks can operate in a spot together would be more lucrative than the way trucks currently operate alone. She said she stopped paying for the city license a few years ago when she lost her usual spot in the lottery.

Nick Sanford owns Toss ‘n’ Fire Wood-Fired Pizza, which has two food trucks in addition to its brick-and-mortar location in North Syracuse. Sanford also said the current available spots don’t justify the license fee.

“There’s only a handful of them to choose, and really none of them are lucrative enough for trucks to purchase,” Sanford said.

He said he’d only consider paying the licensing fee if the city opens up areas near SU, which is something Greene’s proposal would do.

George Shattuck, owner of Shattuck’s Paddy Wagon, said he also operates mostly on private property. He said the SU area has generally been off-limits for food trucks but would be a “gold mine” if the legislation allows trucks to park there.

“Everybody wants to be up there,” Hattuck said. “I would think you could be at Bird Library, you could be anywhere (near SU) and just destroy it.”

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Dwyer said SU might have been resistant to food trucks in the past because in 1999, a food truck owner that operated near SU was arrested for running a drug trafficking ring. “Ziggy’s Wagon” officially made snacks, but the owner also sold marijuana and cocaine from the truck.

Councilor Susan Boyle, of the 3rd district, applauded Greene at the meeting for his work on the legislation but said the council should take additional time to consider lowering fees for food cart owners, as well. Common Council President Helen Hudson and Councilor Joe Carni, of the 1st district, agreed with Boyle.

Greene said he wanted to address the food truck problem now and that passing his proposal wouldn’t stop the council from changing the rules for food carts in the future.

The proposal was not listed on the council’s agenda for next Monday, as of Tuesday night.

Published on October 16, 2018 at 10:10 pm

Contact Casey: casey@dailyorange.com | @caseydarnell_