Vending plans scaled back

Controversy has marred the on-going battle over regulating area vending. While Penn officials paint their new plan to regulate campus vending as a boon to the entire community, the initiative represents a considerably scaled-back version of their original goal to regulate all outdoor vendors on campus streets. The new initiative, proposed after the original plan drew harsh community opposition and the city challenged its legality, comes at a high price -- the hundreds of thousands of dollars in renovations necessary to create five fresh air food plazas on and around campus. Also, the second facet of the initiative --Ea city ordinance to limit the amount of outdoor vendors and move vendors to specific streets -- still hasn't been sent to City Council. The University-funded plazas are separate from the ordinance, which seeks city regulation over outdoor vending. Administrators had originally hoped to have City Councilwoman Jannie Blackwell, who represents University City, propose the ordinance last spring. Instead, opposition to the original plan last summer led Penn officials to water down the ordinance and propose the plazas, which would allow it to accomplish its aims without needing to go through the city's legal system. The currently proposed legislation would prohibit street vending in front of existing or future retail locations, such as the Sansom Common project and the retailers on 40th Street. It would also eliminate vending on most of Locust, Walnut, Chestnut and Sansom streets, restricting it to the western side of 38th Street, Spruce Street between 36th and 38th streets, 40th Street between Spruce and Locust streets, 33rd Street near the Palestra and along Market Street between 34th and 40th streets. There will also be 13 outdoor carts near the Penn Tower Hotel. Restricting outdoor vending to specific areas --Erather than rejecting it outright -- shows the extent to which the University was forced to alter its plans after losing a fight with the city for control over area streets last January. Penn also lost a crucial battle for public opinion this summer to community members who feared losing their favorite eateries. Officials had begun planning some sort of vending ordinance a year ago, but didn't forsee any of the recent stumbling blocks until January 1997. The first glimpses of controversy appeared in late January, when the University decided to tow Jatendra Dalwadi's newsstand from the corner of 34th and Walnut streets -- begging the question of who has the right to control the use of campus streets and sidewalks: Penn or the city. University Police -- acting under orders from the administration -- towed the newsstand after the city refused to revoke his license. A few days later, however, the city told the University that it did not have the right to move vendors off of city streets, dealing a final death blow to Penn's notion that a vending ordinance would be easily and quickly passed. The newsstand fight had a lasting impact on what would be an ongoing vending struggle. After Dalwadi reached an "amicable" decision with Penn officials to relocate his stand, University administrators kept questioning the continued presence of other outdoor vendors, which Executive Vice President Fry, in a January interview, labeled as "trashy." The vendors "contribute to the University's safety and aesthetic problems," Fry added at the time. University officials had long complained that food trucks and outdoor vendors posed safety risks and harmed existing retail. The issue gained increasing importance as Penn officials said the continued presence of such vendors would make it more difficult to attract retail to the Sansom Common project and other area locations. "Retailers considering relocating to the University would want to know that vending can be regulated," Vice President for Government, Community and Public Affairs Carol Scheman said at the time. But over the summer, after facing a groundswell of organized campus opposition from students and faculty, Penn officials decided to take a different tack by trying to restrict the vendors to specific areas, rather than eliminating them outright. Most importantly, Penn officials shifted gears. Determined to handle the situation independently of the city, they decided upon the idea of fresh air food plazas as a way to relocate vendors without having to deal with the city. The proposed ordinance would allow 100 vendors to remain on streets or sidewalks, but their choice of spots would be restricted. Roughly 45 others could move into the plazas, which would provide electrical hook-ups, sewage and water lines and improved lighting for a cost of $1 a month for five years. The problem with the fresh air food plazas' upscale design will arise later this year, as the University will be forced to find ways to pay for their construction and maintenance. The previous plan would have rid the University of outdoor vending at no cost at all. The plazas are scheduled to be constructed in December. The ordinance has not yet been sent to Blackwell.

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