At 11am today (5/10), in the Wilson Building, the Council Committee on Business, Consumer and Regulatory Affairs is holding the hearing on the future of DC’s food trucks.  DMVFTA is going to be live-tweeting the hearing. UPDATE: Tim Carman, from the Washington Post, is also live-tweeting.

Expert Witnesses Call on DC Council to Reject Food Truck Proposal

There are proven, better alternatives to assigning vendors by lottery

WASHINGTON, DC – Expert witnesses today explained why proposals to assign food trucks to designated spaces through a lottery and requiring them to have 10 feet of unobstructed sidewalk in order to vend not only result in food trucks closing – they’re bad policies for the District.

“From a public policy and urban planning perspective, the approach the proposed regulations take to allocating spaces for food trucks is outdated and backwards-looking,” said Professor John Gaber urban and regional planning expert at the University of Arkansas.

“Food trucks are the product of the market’s demand. Proposing that they must have 10 feet of unobstructed sidewalk in order vend and creating a potential infinite number of lottery-assigned spaces directly interferes with their ability to meet that demand,” Gaber added.

“Food trucks are great things for communities; they provide more ‘eyes on the street’ for public safety and compliment the surrounding brick-and-mortar businesses,” Gaber said.

“The proposed lottery system treats all locations equal and does not take into account the value higher-traffic locations versus less-busy ones, but instead lottery winners pay an equal amount regardless of where they are assigned,” said Brett Tarnutzer, who works at the Federal Communications Commission designing and implementing market-based mechanisms for allocating radio spectrum.  “That’s a real missed opportunity for the District to generate revenue by charging a higher fee in busy locations and incentivize food trucks to serve other areas.”

“And gamming of lotteries is commonplace,” Tarnutzer added. “There are better, proven methods to allocate spaces for food trucks than lotteries that are very successful in other industries that present far more benefits to the District than a lottery.”

“No other city in the United States requires food trucks to have 10 feet of unobstructed sidewalk in order to vend,” said Matt Geller, CEO of the Southern California Mobile Vendors Association and a nationally recognized expert in food truck regulations. “If adopted by City Council, these proposed regulations would transform the District overnight from having one of the most vibrant food truck industries in the country to one of the worse.”

About the Food Truck Association

The Food Truck Association of Metropolitan Washington is a group of more than 60 local food truck owner-operators. We seek to sustain the wellbeing of our industry, foster a sense of community and work in partnership to improve food truck regulations. We are engaged community members who deeply care about our city and believe in working together to make a positive impact. The Food Truck Association’s signature event is the Curbside Cookoff food truck festival series.