During today’s lunch hour, three food trucks encountered disruptions by police (MPD and Park). Trucks affected were Takorean (as reported by Prince of Petworth), Pi On Wheels (District of Pi’s truck) and Sauca. All trucks were eventually cleared of any infraction and allowed to operate again.
Do we even need to speculate anymore that certain restaurants and BIDs are calling the police in an attempt to harass DC’s food trucks?
Should DC food truck fans start auditing brick and mortar restaurants for health code violations? 🙂
I was almost to the window at Tokorean when MPD rolled up. The officer said that he had received a complaint that the truck was not allowed to be there (and appeared ignorant of the fact that mobile food trucks do not need a permit for a specific location). It was not until another officer arrived and explained the rules that they were allowed to continue serving.
Why is this a police issue? Since when do police enforce DCRA codes? People it is time to contact your council person and put a stop to this silliness.
If anyone called the police for a health code violation every time a restaurant server sneezes but afterwards does not immediately wash his hands for 30 seconds with soap and warm water there would be a lot of police cars outside DC restaurant.
It is pretty clear that this is a defensive maneuver by interested parties. The real shocker (welcome as it is) is that an MPD officer came to clear up the situation!
Haters gonna hate….
Why does DC government try to close down trucks for violating imagined rules when the brick-and-mortar restaurants get cited for actual violations by health inspectors that don’t result in closures (http://washingtonexaminer.com/local/dc/hundreds-dc-area-restaurants-violate-health-codes)?
Every time foodtruckfiesta.com posts a story about the cops enforcing brick-and-mortar restaurant complaints, please show the restaurant nearest the incident with a health code violation – http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/NewsSearch?st=%22health%2Bcode%22 and http://newsroom.dc.gov/list.aspx/agency/hrla/section/16/year/2011 – or add an optional brick-and-mortar health code violations layer on your own Food Truck Tracker!
At I type this, CurbsideCupcake-PINKY1 is on the same block as a restaurant on http://newsroom.dc.gov/show.aspx/agency/hrla/section/16/release/21291/year/2011 listed for “Operating a food establishment with gross and insanitary conditions which may endanger the public health including but not limited to a heavy infestation of vermin” and “operating a food establishment with circumstances that may endanger the public health.” Make the right move!