Phila. passes controversial bill to restrict area vending

Current controversies concern which vendors will be able to move into University-built food plazas. Although City Council yesterday approved, as expected, a University-backed ordinance regulating campus vending, the year-old controversy over the issue remains far from over. Vendor and consumer groups are worried that under the new legislation, food trucks and carts that have long parked in certain locations will lose their spots to the vendors who have been on campus the longest. When the ordinance goes into effect July 22 -- 90 days from yesterday -- most of the approximately 90 vendors currently in University City will be moved from their present locations to one of the either 103 new street and sidewalk locations or 45 slots in the five food plazas the University is building on its property to hold vendors displaced by the bill. Council unanimously approved the legislation. The ordinance bans food trucks and carts on many streets and sidewalks around campus and, a year after its enactment, prohibits electrical generators. In an effort to smooth the transition, University officials hope to finish building the food plazas by the time the ordinance goes into effect, according to Jack Shannon, the University's top economic development official. University administrators previously had announced that the food plazas would be complete by August 15. But despite the University's good-faith effort, some critics of the legislation are still concerned about how the process for selecting the vendors for the new sites will work. The ordinance charges the Department of Licenses and Inspections with creating a process for distributing licenses for specific locations that takes into account vendors' seniority. The proposal West Philadelphia Councilwoman Jannie Blackwell originally submitted to Council February 12 called for the creation of a Vending Advisory Board made up of representatives from the University as well as vendor, student, faculty, staff, business and neighborhood groups. But last week Council added an amendment eliminating the board out of a concern that the body did not have the legal authority to establish it. Scott Goldstein, who resigned Tuesday after nearly a year as chairperson of the University City Vendor Alliance -- one of the ad hoc groups formed in response to Penn's initial proposal last May -- said he has "a lot of concerns" about the assignment process. "So many people are being dislocated that, by necessity, vendors that are in legal locations that remain legal are going to be displaced by other vendors who have more seniority," said Goldstein, a food-truck operator. Matthew Ruben, spokesperson for the Penn Consumer Alliance -- the other ad hoc group -- said "it's too early to tell" how the process for selecting vendor locations will work. Still, Ruben, a School of Arts and Sciences graduate student, did say that he "would be surprised if L&I;'s process was completely clear or rational or fair." But Shannon said he believes the change to the new system will be "orderly." "We will do everything necessary to make sure all the food vendors will be accommodated," Shannon said. But many vendors continue to be frustrated by University officials' failure to address concerns they had with Penn's first contract proposal for vendors to operate in the food plazas, according to Goldstein. Construction on the first food plaza, located at 40th Street between Walnut and Locust streets, began April 13. University officials will begin soliciting bids for the other four plazas next week, according to Shannon. The other four food plazas will be located between Gimbel Gymnasium and the parking garage on the 3700 block of Walnut Street; behind Meyerson Hall near 34th and Walnut Streets; by Franklin Field at 33rd and South streets; and at 34th and Spruce Streets next to the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania. The plazas will provide outdoor seating for customers, as well as electrical hook ups, sewage, water lines and improved lighting for the vendors at a cost of $1 a month. The University has sought to regulate vending for many years, citing safety concerns and vendors' negative effect on its ability to lure attractive retailers to the area. The ordinance prohibits vending in front of retail stores and classroom buildings.

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