Baltimore's era of good food-truck feelings will last at least a little longer. The temporary policies announced by the city in June are being extended beyond the end of the year, according to officials.
Food-truck operators will be able to renew their current licenses, all of which are set to expire on Dec. 31, according to Kaliope Parthemos, the city's deputy mayor for economic development.
“Everything will continue as is,” Parthemos said — though she couldn’t specify how long the extension would last.
The temporary policies were announced by the mayor's office in the wake of news reports about the struggles of some food-truck operators to come into compliance with, or even understand, the city's regulations for food trucks. The policies include the establishment of pilot food truck zones and the lifting of the proximity bans designed to keep food trucks away from bricks-and-mortar restaurants.
The temporary policies, the city said in June, would continue through the end of 2011, as it conducted a review of its regulatory structure. A promised best-practices report on food-truck policies has been completed by a mayoral fellow, Parthemos said, but was not available to the public.
Both city officials and food-truck operators spoke positively about the ongoing process of establishing permanent regulations.
“I'm confident that working together with the food truck community, we can make a determination about what is best for everyone,” Parthemos said.
Willy Dely, who works for the operators of Kooper's Chowhound Burger Wagon, the city's longest-operating food truck, agreed.
“I'm pretty sure we can work with the city to make this work in the long run,” said Dely, who helps organize and promote the city’s fleet of food trucks.
Self-policing, Dely says, has helped keep the trucks in the city's good graces. Although the pilot program has eliminated the proximity ban, Dely says “a huge majority of the trucks” act as though the restriction is in place.
Without the proximity ban in place, though, the city receives complaints about the food trucks from bricks-and-mortar business owners, Parthemos said.
“We want to make sure it’s equitable for everyone,” Parthemos said.
Robert Frommer, a staff attorney with the Institute of Justice, a non-profit libertarian law firm, is a critic of proximity bans.
“The government shouldn't be involved in picking winners and losers,” Frommer said. “Even though there’s a temporary reprieve, which is all to the good, industry insiders are always tempted to use the power of government to change policies.”
Baltimore's food-truck operators, Dely said, are moving to form an association with legally binding by-laws, which could be given the authority to restrict food truck zones, along with other privileges, to association members.