A meeting aimed at creating a final, unified proposal to regulate vending on and around campus ended with little resolved last night, because University officials had decided not to come. The meeting, organized by the Penn Consumer Alliance, did produce some general agreement on overarching issues, but it failed to resolve most of the details that separate the different sides of the vending debate. The most significant outcome was a decision to hold another meeting next week and to invite University administrators again. The biggest difference between vendors and other activists -- whether the proposed ordinance should set up "vending-free" zones or specifically detail where vending should be allowed -- was not addressed. In the eyes of many, without the University represented, not much could be done. "The people that needed to be here [the University] weren't here. You can talk all day long, but they are the people making the decisions," said Roslyn Abbot, owner of Veda's Vegetarian Delights who came to the meeting to watch. University officials declined the invitation because they only want to negotiate the proposed ordinance in the presence of City Councilwoman Jannie Blackwell. And they won't send anyone to the next meeting, either, according to Vice President for Government, Community and Public Affairs Carol Scheman. "What's useful now is putting time into negotiating with the councilwoman," Scheman said. Blackwell will schedule a meeting with everyone involved very shortly, Scheman said. Jason Eisner, a member of the PCA who attended the meeting, said that despite the University administration's absence, the presence of representatives of so many campus and neighborhood groups made the meeting a success. "The meeting shows we have the explicit endorsement of several campus groups, so we can be confident we represent the needs of the community the University serves," Eisner said. Many in attendance expressed their displeasure with the University's absence. "Jack Shannon, Carol Scheman and Judy Rodin are not the University, the University is the people here. We have a different concept of what the University needs then what they want," said Paul Lukasiak, a member of PCA. Many student and faculty groups sent representatives. Among them were Undergraduate Assembly Chairperson and College junior Noah Bilenker, Alex Welte of the Graduate and Professional Students Assembly, and Political Science Professor Jack Nagel. Also at the meeting were David Jensen of the Spruce Hill Community Association, John Hogan of the A-3 Assembly and representatives of the PCA and the University City Vendors Alliance. These representatives made up the working committee that discussed the issues and voted on what courses of action to take. While many vendors attended the meeting, they were not allowed to speak until the last 90 seconds of the meeting. When one vendor tried to ask a question in the middle of the meeting, Lukasiak said, "It's a working meeting, not an open discussion meeting." By unanimous vote, the nine members of the meeting's voting committee endorsed a contingency clause in the proposed ordinance that would eliminate the restrictions street vending if the University doesn't build the fresh-air food plazas it has touted. They also unanimously agreed to push for safety classes, decibel level restrictions and enforcement provisions on electric generators, rather than banning them outright as the proposal now reads. These endorsements are only suggestions, though, unless the City Council decides to incorporate them into the ordinance proposal.
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