Protests delay action on vending ordinance

and Tammy Reiss Unusually heavy criticism from students and local vendors over the past two weeks delayed City Councilwoman Jannie Blackwell's introduction of an ordinance that would limit and reorganize street and sidewalk vending around campus. Blackwell, who represents West Philadelphia on City Council, said she met Wednesday with University officials and with vendors after receiving "several hundred calls" from individuals opposed to the measure, and added that she hopes to hold an open "community meeting" to discuss possible changes before introducing the bill at City Council's May 28 meeting. The ordinance proposes to prohibit vending on certain University streets, but it would also create at least two campus areas designated for vending. Vice President for Government, Community and Public Affairs Carol Scheman, who led the team that wrote the ordinance, originally expected Blackwell to introduce it May 7. But after a strong initial response from students pushed that date back to yesterday, Blackwell decided to hold off on proposing the ordinance for two more weeks. "The ordinance is an attempt to address a chaotic and unsafe situation on campus," Scheman said last week, noting that the current situation creates problems for both vendors and University affiliates. "This is an ordinance that provides order and sense and reduces chaos." Among many other restrictions, the proposal would prohibit food trucks on both sides of Spruce and Walnut streets, from 33rd to 41st streets. Food vendors of any type would be banned on Spruce between 33rd and 36th streets and Walnut between 34th and 38th streets. Trucks would be allowed on the west side of 38th Street between Spruce and Walnut streets, Scheman said. Administrators worked with Blackwell to draft the ordinance, which they hope will "severely restrict" the number of food trucks on campus, and limit vending to designated areas. But they did not invite student input about the details of the ordinance. Scheman explained that although students "had feelings, they have no expertise" in negotiating and resolving such matters. A "food truck task force" met only once this year, and the administration did not inform the committee's members -- approximately 20 students, faculty members and staff -- of the ordinance before its introduction, according to College senior Jared Danziger, a member of the task force. "I think everyone is outraged at the underhanded manner that the University conducted itself in," Danziger said, adding that the Graduate and Professional Students Assembly played a considerable part in delaying the proposal. But Scheman insisted that she has invited feedback on the vending situation since officials began discussions 1 1/2 years ago on an ordinance. "I don't think anyone can say legitimately that this was held in secret, because it wasn't," Scheman said yesterday. Administrators have pushed for the ordinance to stem the safety threat vending trucks pose to students, she said, adding that because lined-up trucks "form an alleyway," students are at risk for being mugged behind them. Additionally, University officials contend that the trucks block the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania's Spruce Street emergency exit. Other concerns are that vendors take up parking places and violate parking regulations, by "feeding" parking meters and leaving their trucks in the same place all day. Food trucks on Walnut and Spruce streets block storefronts and have impaired University efforts to attract restaurants and retail to the area, Scheman said. But vendors said they believe University administrators are trying to force trucks out of business in order to increase the success of University-owned retail. Scheman maintained that the ordinance does not reduce the number of vendors or pose an inconvenience to students because "no one would have to walk more than a block" to purchase food from a vendor, she said. And the University would establish special vendor sites outside Van Pelt Library and near HUP so vendors "don't have to get up at three o'clock in the morning and defend their spaces to the death," she said.

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