"Don't Mess With My Tacos" Milwaukee Common Council Prohibits Food Trucks Along W. National Ave.

The Milwaukee Common Council has again restricted food trucks at another city street corridor from S. Layton Boulevard (S. 27 Street) westward to the city limits along W. National Ave. in the 8th Aldermanic District. 

By H. Nelson Goodson

Hispanic News Network U.S.A.

February 27, 2019

Milwaukee, WI - On Tuesday, the Milwaukee Common Council (MCC) approved resolution #181572 that was introduced by Alderman Robert "Bob" Donovan from the 8th Aldermanic District to include the prohibition of parked vehicles from selling articles where prohibited. Donovan claimed during a Public Safety and Health Committee (PSHC) hearing that parked vehicles selling articles along W. National Ave. were not parked properly due to the accumulated snow on the street parking lane and vehicles were parked wayout and close to the West and East traffic flow lanes. What Ald. Donovan didn't say during the PSHC hearing on February 14, was that he was actually targeting a popular taco food truck at the 3700 block of W. National Ave. Since, the targeted taco truck vendor wasn't at the hearing to oppose the resolution, it passed the Committee unopposed.
Also, there is no history that the taco truck in question has ever been cited by Milwaukee police for being parked wayout into the East and Westbound traffic flow.

The #181572 resolution, which was approved Tuesday by the MCC prohibits any parked vehicles from selling articles including food trucks from S. Layton Boulevard (S. 27 Street) westward to the city limits along W. National Ave., which the Asian Improvement Business District corridor starts at S. 32nd to S. 39th Streets along W. National Ave., according to the South Side Comprehensive Plan (SSCAP) approved in 2009 by the MCC. In 2009, the Milwaukee Department of City Development created an advisory plan called the SSCAP, which at time didn't include food trucks in the corridor. The SSCAP only promoted a business growth for an Asian Improvement District and apparently lacked any recommendation to promote Latino businesses in that particular corridor, but today it's called Silver City Neighborhood. Asian businesses stayed stagnant and the stretch remained mixed, that included several Latino restaurants at the corner of S. 35 and W. National and one Taco food truck at the 3700 block of W. National Ave.

Hispanic News Network U.S.A. (HNNUSA) learned the real motive behind the resolution that Ald. Donovan proposed and helped pass in the PSHC. He claimed that the Taqueria Arandas (tacos and tortas/sandwiches Mexican style) food truck stays stationary at one place for at least 10 hours per day instead of moving around every two hours as the registered permit allows. The Arandas taco truck operator says that he been at the same spot for at least 10 years and is now prohibited in that corridor, which will affect his customer base.

According to Donovan's legislative aide, Patty Doherty, in a response to Justin Bielinski, a former Aldermanic candidate in the district, who then posted her response in his Facebook account revealed the actual motive behind Donovan's resolution and it wasn't because parked vehicles were selling articles close to the traffic flow lanes as Ald. Donovan wants everyone to believe including other aldermen, but according to Doherty, she claims that complaints have been made and released the following statement, "Dear Justin,

Most of the complaints were over the phone, but maybe it would just be easier to go over the situation and what steps we took from beginning to end. The first call I got was from a landlord on the 3700 bl. of W. National Ave. whose commercial tenants were concerned about a huge ice dam that had formed in front of their organization. I have attached the picture. DPW took the picture when I sent them out to address the complaint. The tenants said the leak was coming from a food truck that parks in front of their organization every day for about 10 hours a day.

In response to the ice, I sent Sewer Maintenance and the Health Dept. The Health Inspector verified that the truck was leaking water and issued orders for them to get it fixed. It was also determined at that time that there was a slow underground waterline leak that was also causing the ponding, and the freezing. I then got the contact info for the owner of the food truck and I gave him a call and talked to him about the water and also the complaint from the businesses on that side of the block about the fact that he parks there all day every day and that the people coming to their businesses/organizations have nowhere to park. I asked him to refrain from parking there at all for a few days while the City tried to get rid of the ice dam and after that, I reminded him that he had to follow the posted parking rules, which state 2 hour parking.

A few days after that I got a call from the brother of the food truck owner. His brother called because his English is better and he wanted to make sure they understood the complaint. I talked to him about the need to respect the other people trying to do business at this building and went over the parking rules with him – rules that are given, in writing, to all applicants for food truck vendor licenses. He argued with me saying they were unfair, especially in winter when not all parking spots are open due to snow. I told him that when we receive a complain like this, first we verify it through parking enforcement, which we did, but I requested that they just ask him to move and not ticket him. Once the complaint of all day parking was verified, I – personally – reached out to the owner to try to work things out without having to resort to any type of enforcement. In this case, it didn't work. Over the next week, I received almost daily calls from the LL saying his tenants are still complaining and that the food truck is still parking there all day.

At that point, we requested that parking citations be issued, and they were. I didn't make the request daily because I wasn't trying to hurt the guy financially, we were only trying to get him to be reasonable and comply. He did not, and I continued to get calls. Now the LL was getting upset and asking how long before this office could actually do something about this. I don't blame him. That's when we turned to using legislation to fix the problem. I'd also like to add that I told all of this to the food vendor's brother and said that the very last step, and one we don't want to be forced to take, is to ban trucks from the street. I can't explain why they refused to follow the parking rules, but it is what it is, and that's a shame. They are still allowed to park just around any corner, on a side street, but only for 2 hours at a time. Those are the rules for any food truck anywhere across the City unless they obtain a special event permit.

I have been told that the truck now parks further west on National Ave. possibly in West Milwaukee. I really don't know what else we could have done here, and is it really so awful to require food truck vendors to follow the rules and be fair to others in the community? We also had a complaint from a business owner on 30th and Lincoln about a food truck. The truck was parking outside of this tavern at bar time and staying until 3 a.m. This meant that customers stayed in the neighborhood, outside, eating food from the vendor. The complaints were numerous and many from neighbors (loud music from cars, loud voices, lots of litter). The police went out on noise complaints from neighbors and the bar owner was worried that he'd be blamed for the neighborhood nuisance when it came time for the license renewal. I called the owner of the truck and explained the problem and what do you know, he understood and stopped the 3 a.m. business plan. That's how things should work. I honestly feel bad that that's not how it went on National, but it's not like he lost his license, he just has to park around the corner or down the street."

It seems that the MCC has been restricting and prohibiting food trucks including taco trucks from certain streets, which in many cases tend to be main and busy streets and avenues around Milwaukee. Food trucks provide a variety of good tasting food at an affordable price for their customer base.

Now, the Milwaukee Common Council is targeting taco trucks along W. National Ave. under deceptive claims by Ald. Donovan, who some are saying might not seek re-election and most likely face a backlash in his district, which has a large Hispanic voting base. Also, Alderman José G. Pérez who represents the 12th Aldermanic District has food trucks in his district as well. Ald. Pérez voted along with Ald. Donovan and 12 other aldermen to prohibit food trucks along W. National Ave. in the Silver City neighborhood.
The #181572 resolution passed by the MCC is also discriminatory because it doesn't prohibit food trucks East of W. National Ave. from S. Layton Blvd. (S. 27), which includes Ald. Pérez Aldermanic district. Mayor Tom Barrett is expected to sign it into municipal law.
Ald. Donovan has a history of being anti-food truck supporter in his district, especially taco trucks. According to Common Council records, Donovan has banned at least 6 food trucks on W. Greenfield Ave, W. Lincoln Ave. and W. Mitchell Street including the latest taco truck along part of the W. National Ave. business corridor in the 8th District. Donovan holds the record of banning the most food trucks in the City. 

Food truck vendors around Milwaukee should be given an option to apply for an additional petmit to allow longer periods of stationary time at certain locations under a proposed legislative resolution that any member of the MCC can introduce.

Don't mess with my tacos...