A late-night hot spot in Kansas City, Kansas, and food truck owners across Wyandotte County, will operate without interference from county staff or police while elected officials craft a new law governing the small businesses, according to Mayor Tyrone Garner.
Following an outcry from food truck vendors, Garner said on Thursday that a moratorium would be imposed on enforcing the law that regulates the hours the trucks can be open. City and county employees had been delivering papers to vendors through so-called educational “blitzes.”
Garner advised affected business owners to “rest assured” those actions will pause until a policy resolution is reached.
“The (county) administrator has assured me that until the Unified Government commission can get some type of policy that they can agree on from this body to either maintain or to alter or enhance or make the changes that they think that they will approve at some point, there will be a (moratorium) on UG staff interacting with people on Central Avenue or anyone else in regards to food trucks,” Garner said during Unified Government Board of Commissioners meeting Thursday night.
“So you can rest assured of that. And if you have any issues with that, please contact my office or the administrator’s office with those concerns.”
At issue are years-old city and county ordinances that received new attention through actual enforcement. Under the local laws, mobile food businesses must close shop by 7 p.m., except for Fridays and Saturdays, when the cutoff is 8 p.m.
Those codified hours of operation went largely unchecked during and after the COVID-19 pandemic as food trucks drove up business in KCK, including for an established group offering tacos and other Mexican-style cuisine at the corner of 18th Street and Central Avenue.
But that changed in the wake of complaints forwarded to elected commissioners as well as the Unified Government of Wyandotte County and Kansas City, Kansas, directly. Among those unhappy with the current practice are brick-and-mortar restaurants faced with new competition and residents bothered by added noise and traffic.
In past weeks, the Unified Government launched a campaign that officials say was meant to bring mobile food vendors up to speed on the current law. The message’s delivery method drew some community disapproval when staff members were joined by KCK police officers, an approach critics viewed as heavy-handed.
No citations were given, according to the Unified Government, as some businesses were found to be without proper paperwork and advised to take corrective measures during the enforcement action.
Meanwhile, food truck owners feel shorter hours lead to an unsustainable decline in business, saying much of their clientele — shift workers and bar patrons, for examples — come out at night. And they say they’ve been forced to lay off employees to make ends meet.
During an open mic session in City Hall on Thursday night, a handful of the business owners repeated those concerns to their elected officials. Among them was Leonardo Nolazquez, who reminded commissioners of the tax revenue the small business owners contribute to the community.
“That supports the schools. (The food truck owners) pay for your checks, police, fire department, and I can go on and on and on,” said Nolazquez, who helps run the family-owned Taqueria Hernandez at 18th and Central.
Area activists have also stepped in. Louise Lynch, of Community Conscious Action Network, is asking elected leaders to consider establishing a public plaza for food trucks and allow nighttime sales, among other things.
“They do serve an integral part of this community. They’d like to really have that done at the plaza. They want to be a permanent staple there and have security that they won’t have to relocate and lose their clientele,” she said.
Earlier this week, the mayor unveiled several proposed changes to city and county ordinances with regard to mobile food trucks.
Under Garner’s proposal, the businesses would be allowed to remain open between 7 a.m. and 2 a.m. the following day, seven days a week. Trucks could park in a single location for up to eight hours per day.
The proposal would also add restrictions. Suggestions include a ban on public parking of the food trucks within 100 feet of a restaurant, heightened penalties for illegal dumping and tweaks to the city code for noise disturbances.
Commissioners Christian Ramirez, 3rd District, and Andrew Davis, 8th District, have also been working to draft a solution. They’ve voiced support for changes that balance the needs of small business owners and broader concerns raised from within the community.
Davis called a special meeting of the Unified Government’s Neighborhood and Community Development standing committee to take place May 15. Revisions to city and county policy concerning food trucks operating within public areas will be the topic of discussion.
“It is my desire to make sure that we have a good balance in the policy that isn’t just beneficial to the mobile vendors. But it’s also beneficial to our food establishments, our commercial storefronts that are there, as well as the residents that are nearby,” Davis said.
Edgar Galicia, executive director of the Central Avenue Betterment Association, has also advocated for food-truck vending hours to be expanded. And he welcomes any relief available to the small business owners in the interim as the policy discussions progress.
“I think that would be an immediate benefit to the families and the business owners that are suffering right now,” Galicia told The Star.
“I think we need to continue the conversations, continue expressing the needs of these business owners. But also, I think we need to acknowledge the fact that the members of the Unified Government, starting from the mayor’s office, are trying their best to help us,” Galicia added. “So, let them help us.”