Have you ever tried to get a decent meal in the heart of midtown, that dead zone between Park and Seventh avenues? It’s all warmed-over pizza, overpriced hot bars or the Four Seasons, which a guy can only eat so much of. This is why a flotilla of food trucks, offering such inventive fare as Korean tacos and gay ice cream, have been decending on the neighborhood for years now. But, no longer.
Dozens of top-flight food trucks have been driven out of midtown by the NYPD, according to The Times. It has to do with an obscure law from the 1950s that was upheld last month in court, which states no “vendor, hawker or huckster shall park a vehicle at a metered parking space” to sell “merchandise.” The judge ruled food could be classified as merchandise, and ever since, the food truck crackdown has begun.
There have been complaints about the trucks for months from restaurant and cafe owners, who complain about having to pay rent and taxes while the food truck scofflaws get a free ride. Maybe some regulation is needed, some designated truck zones and tax payments are in order, but to drive out the trucks for good would be a mistake for the city to make, because then we will be stuck with shitty lunches again.
There is a better solution. Cosi, Famous Ray’s and all those anonymous sushi joints need to step up or shut up.
