You could see more trucks like Falafelville on the streets of Capitol Hill — though this E Olive Way truck has already found a way to avoid city fees by operating on private property just off E Olive Way
Like food trucks? A Seattle City council committee is meeting Tuesday morning to discuss a proposal to make it easier — and cheaper — to set up a food truck in the city as part of efforts to boost activity, especially in the city’s downtown core.
The Transportation and Seattle Public Utilities committee is taking up the proposal to temporarily suspend fees for “vending and small-to-medium scale street and sidewalk activities and events in the public right-of-way.” The permit fees can range from around $200 for a one-time event to thousands of dollars for year-round “activations.”
The proposal is hoped to both make it cheaper and simpler for a food truck or business to get permitted to take up a parking or street space in the city.
Before the pandemic, these types of permits generated around $120,000 a year for the city.
“The intent is to encourage more events and entrepreneurs who want to vend food in Seattle,” a council memo on the proposal reads.
The proposal would also create a more equitable landscape for businesses, the city says.
“We know many vendors are people of color and own some of Seattle’s smallest businesses,” the memo reads. “Applying the fee removal citywide will also provide more equitable outcomes than just focusing on downtown.”
The proposal is a small drop in the city’s revenue bucket but could be part of Mayor Bruce Harrell’s hopes for efforts to boost visitors and activities in downtown Seattle after pandemic changes and with more people working from home. The administration is hoping to bolster downtown revitalization efforts to crack down on drugs, activate streets and shuttered storefronts, and focus new development south of Pioneer Square. The administration is also working on new public drug use legislation that includes resources for treatment and diversion after a push by City Attorney Ann Davison fell short at the city council.
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I am not sure what a preponderance of food trucks has to do with revitalizing a downtown area, or reclaiming a downtown area from street campers. Been to Portland lately? The return of in-person workers to downtown Seattle has been slower than hoped for; will the new food trucks cannibalize the slowly returning business from established brick-and mortar restaurants?
I was just there 2 days ago.
The downtown food carts had very little visible traffic over Labor Day weekend. I noticed a new food cart pod had visible fencing with security staff manning each end.
This trip was the first time I had to narrowly avoided running over someone sleeping (or drugged out) in a protected bike lane downtown. Also didn’t see anyone attend to the ~$80,000 SUV next to my hotel whose windows were smashed in the whole time I was there.
Overall, dystopian and depressing.
I think part of the issue is the burning hot desperation to do anything at all that might bring back some psychic notion of what things were like in 2019, irrespective of drastic price increases towards dining out – for lunch or dinner, at a food truck or sit down, it doesnt matter. This is my first time back in the office with eateries very close by up on First Hill and despite all the options…I’m still brown bagging 4 times a week with one treat because I’m priced out and not budging on it. The once weekly treat still rings in at 11-13 bucks…yeah, I’m not that good for it.
The food truck concept is fine for carnivals and other high traffic events, but brick-n-mortar food service provides off-hour eats and even attractive streetscapes when closed for the evening. Food trucks skim the retail cream — not something worth municipal subsidy or encouragement.