I received a couple of reports of a food truck shake-down at Union Station today. Here are some pics. It looks like DC Slices, Eat Wonky and SOL Mexican Grill were all affected while serving customers. No word yet on the reason for MPD action, though it could have been as basic as a permit check. UPDATE: It does appear to have been a quick license check.
BTW – Please sign the petition to Mayor Gray to release the “secret” food truck regulations so that we can protect DC’s food trucks from future shake-downs like this!
Inspection does not equal shakedown. Do you complain when they health inspector shows up at your favorite “brick and mortar” restaurant? Regulation, hand in hand with inspection, for everything from permits to premises, does need to exist. Move on.
JAC: I think the real issue is that the food trucks are inspected MUCH more frequently than brick and mortar restaurants. The inspections also come during peak serving times and have historically been used as a form of harassment, directed by the restaurant association and Business Improvement Districts.
HISTORICALLY inspections of food trucks in the District of Columbia are a relatively new phenomena, as are the food trucks themselves, and since regulations regarding food trucks are still a hodge-podge of city agencies dealing with a new form of business, I don’t think that HISTORICALLY this is a form of harassment. Also, I would assume, as in every reasonable case, that notice is given to food trucks AND street vendors when they will be expected to produce certain documents such as licences. But guess what, surprise inspections are for the good of the populace and generally do more good than harm. If that happens to come at the beginning, middle, or end of that officer’s beat, shouldn’t matter. I fully support public engagement and outcry of what is probable harassment by the RESTAURANT ASSOCIATIONS, as is the case in Los Angeles. People should petition their government agencies to address the issue and come to a reasonable resolution. Food trucks are an outstanding example of creative and competative business, and IMO restaurants should be worried they’re not the only game in town. But just because those trucks happened to be inspected at that hour of the day, does not mean that it is harassment by the police. I’m sure there are plenty of examples of what police harassment actually looks like. And what this blog, that I have seen, has a tendancy to do, is jump the gun on the issue and automatically assume the trucks were being targeted, unless of course, it just happens to be a routine permit check.
JAC: I think you are interpreting my post as anti-MPD, which is not the case and is certainly not my intention. From what I’ve witnessed and heard from others is that MPD is professional and ethical 100% of the time during these inspections. The issue many people have is in how often and who is directing that these inspections and training sessions take place. Many of those issues could be resolved with updated regulations.
I am not aware of food trucks being given notice of when an inspection will occur, but I will follow up on that question.
As a blog author, it my responsibility to report what readers (multiple readers, in this case) experience the moment is happens. I try to make those reports as factual as possible and, as more facts are discovered, update the post with additional information.
As for the text of this post, I don’t think I jumped the gun on anything. I reported facts that were backed up by photos and I even defaulted to the most conservative reason for MPD action: a permit check.