Jun 6, 2013

PORTLAND, OR - Reality shows on television have become a big part of what people are watching on television these days. From the numerous house wife programs to Duck Dynasty to the numerous competitions centered around cooking, travel and survival, Americans are spending much of their television viewing time looking in on the lives of various aspects of our culture we may not be familiar with.

A Portland based film group is getting ready to begin filming the lives of another culture to share with Americans. Portland food cart owners in a realty show titled Cart and Soul.

Not the typical reality show based on the drama or oddness of the cast, Cinesational Video Productions, is doing what they feel is a way to change the landscape of TV. Through positive realty show concepts.

The Plot of Cart and Soul:

What if we took 8 Portland area food cart vendors, placed them in a reality series, watched them interact with their families, friends, and customers, and then asked them each week to give something back to the community..

Maybe it’s their time, effort, money, heart, or ideas….

Could hearts be changed?
Could lives be changed?
Could families be changed?
Could communities be changed?
Could YOU be changed?

The Cast:

French Twist Food Cart - Scott Dean
The Hope Kitchen Food Cart Catering - Marsha Baker, @Michell Baker and @Darrin Ezell
Bro-Dogs Food Cart - @Scott Smith and @Andrew Wade
The Italian Market - @Andrew Vidulich and @Erin Callahan
Mix ‘N’ Match Creamery – Food Cart - @Eric West and @Genevieve West
The Gaufre Gourmet - @Mike Susak and @Charlene Wesler
The Blue Coyote Catering Company - @John Dyrnes

If you would like to keep up on the production of this project check them out at:

TWITTER - www.twitter.com/cartandsoul
FACEBOOK - www.facebook.com/cartandsoul
WEBSITE - www.cartandsoulshow.com
EMAIL – fans@cartandsoulshow.com

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Carlisle Borough Council to consider allowing mobile food vendors in borough

CARLISLE – Borough Councilman Matthew Madden said he doesn’t want mobile food cart vendors taking business away from Carlisle restaurant owners set up in brick-and-mortar establishments.

Madden said he would prefer to see the borough’s empty, unimproved buildings downtown filled, rather than changing Carlisle’s Borough Code to allow mobile food purveyors to set up in Carlisle.

Sections of the code prohibit mobile food carts and trucks in Carlisle, except during parades and other special events. Section 237-2 specifically prohibits what are deemed “transient businesses,” which mobile vendors fall under in the borough.

“My concern is protecting the existing brick-and-mortar businesses,” Madden said during a council committee meeting this morning, where the mobile food cart issue was raised. “I want to make sure there is an incentive for investors to come in over time. I want to make sure we can sustain both the existing, and the proposed.”

Technically, he isn’t allowed to do it, but Jason Turner, who sells Falafel from a bicycle cart, skirts the law by selling his fare on private properties.

Turner said while there likely would be pushback from restaurant owners, there is room for compromise, just like there is in other midstate municipalities and major cities across the U.S., including Chicago, where there was a struggle existed between restaurant owners and food cart purveyors.

In that spirit, Council Vice President Tim Scott suggested council change the municipality’s code to allow mobile food cart vendors in Carlisle, but not without first gathering input from stakeholders.

Scott scheduled a public hearing on the matter to give restaurant owners and would-be food cart and truck operators and constituents a chance to weigh in on the subject.

The meeting will take place at Borough Hall at 7:30 p.m. on July 31.

“Across the country, food truck and other forms of mobile food vending are gaining popularity in large, and yes, even smaller cities like Carlisle,” Scott said. “As a matter of fact, I had a conversation with the zoning officer last year, and he stated that in 2012 alone, he had turned down at least 10 different requests for (mobile food vendors).”

Council President Perry Heath said he is concerned over how food carts and trucks would be regulated in the borough.

Heath said he is not interested in placing that responsibility in the borough’s lap. And he told Turner that changing borough code is a long process, and if council were to allow for food carts and trucks, it might not happen until next spring.

“We can’t create another bureaucracy within local government,” Heath said. “Another issue for me is. The devil is always in the details. Want to make sure if we do it, it is done right.”

Councilman Don Grell said that while he wants to hear more from stakeholders, he supports allowing mobile food vendors in the borough under adopted regulations, rather than completely banning them altogether.

Borough Manger Matthew Candland told council members at this morning’s joint meeting of the Economic Development and Sustainability and Community Planning committees that food carts and trucks could “be part of the outside dining strategy. It’s this whole concept of outside dining. We don’t have to reinvent this type of thing. When u start having a critical mass of restaurants, maybe it could enhance our restaurant district.”

Allowing mobile food vendors in the borough would help add to the borough’s tax base, and could enhance the downtown, said Turner, whose mobile food bike business is named “Unlawful Falafel.”

Turner noted that Redds Smokehouse BBQ, a popular downtown restaurant, developed from a food stand into a brick-and-mortar establishment.

“I sell $4 falafel and lemonade. I’m not even in a bracket that can compete (with downtown restaurant owners),” said Turner, former co-owner of the defunct Carlisle eatery, the Green Room. “I wouldn’t set up in (restaurant parking lots). It seems like we are trying to keep a very specific set of things in a continuing pattern.”

“It’s a win-win for everybody in the community as long as somebody doesn’t want to get it all,” he continued. “It’s something that is evolving…get ahead of it before you get behind it.”

If you go:

What: Carlisle Borough Council public meeting on possibly allowing mobile food vendors to operate in the borough.

When: 7:30 p.m. July 31

Where: Bourough Hall, 53 W. South St.

Naperville extends downtown food cart permits

Two food cart vendors will continue serving food to people on the go in downtown Naperville at least until the end of the year.

After that, city officials will take another look at the program to determine what improvements need to be made if it is going to continue.

“Stuff does take a while to get fine-tuned, and maybe assuming that you … have a real good year and there’s no problems, then we’ll be able to finally get this thing so it runs more or less by itself like most other things,” Councilman Joe McElroy told the vendors.

Maps
Naperville, IL, USA

The Downtown Advisory Commission and city staff have been looking at ways to ease issues like vendors being unhappy with the location they have been assigned and some vendors not showing up consistently. There also have been concerns from the business community that mobile vendors take business away from bricks-and-mortar establishments.

After discussing the program at three consecutive meetings and reviewing options like clustering the vendors, the commission recommended extending the permits through December instead of July for Joey’s Red Hots and John’s Rib House — the only two of the four permitted vendors showing up regularly — then taking another look at the program.

In making his case to the City Council for final approval, John’s Rib House owner John Singleton Jr. said he doesn’t think he makes enough money to hurt other downtown businesses and the program should be given time to improve.

“Like all new ideas, there’s going to be faults, there’s going to be some kinks you have to work out,” he said.

Councilman Paul Hinterlong said he believes in the program.

“The reason these guys came around was because the restaurants didn’t want to cook anymore when it became late enough, so it opened up a window for these guys,” he said. “Good for them. They’re filling that void.”

The issue, Councilman Steve Chirico said, has become “one of the most talked about small items.”

“Seems to me the only thing that’s wrong, we just need to get out of the way and let these guys sell hot dogs and pulled pork sandwiches,” he said.

The council unanimously agreed to extend the two vendors’ permits until the end of the year.

mjenco@tribune.com

Committee comes to food cart compromise

Local establishments fear food carts that operate late at night near their restaurant takes away from their business. The carts located around Pita Pit and Silvermine Subs will now have fewer spaces to park during hours of operation.

Late night food carts may soon have fewer places to park after a city committee unanimously voted to approve a compromise between vendors and restaurant owners at a meeting Wednesday.

The Vending Oversight Committee gave final approval to a city ordinance amendment that would eliminate several parking spaces in front of the restaurants Asian Kitchen and Pita Pit on the 400 block of Broom Street. The compromise was designed to reduce tensions between the owners of the restaurants and the food cart vendors after restaurants complained that vendors parked in front of the establishments were harming their late-night business.

The compromise was temporarily approved at their previous meeting in March, but could not be officially approved until the map detailing exactly where vendors could park was finalized.

Ald. Mike Verveer, District 4, said the amendment changed the perimeter of late-night vending on Broom Street to eliminate the parking spaces in front of businesses on the west side of the street, including Asian Kitchen and Pita Pit. The perimeter still allows vendors to park on the east side of the street, as well as in the loading zone of Riley’s Wines of the World, he said.

The remaining 10 parking spaces will be on a first-come, first-served basis, according to Verveer.

Steve Lawrence, owner of Fried and Fabulous, sets up his food cart in the affected perimeter. He said while the amendment was not perfect, he is satisfied with the outcome of the meeting.

“I think this is a balanced approach that directly responds to the complaints brought up by restaurants while allowing food carts to remain in business,” Lawrence said. “My one drawing line in the sand has always been that food carts go out of business is not a compromise.”

While he hopes the conflict is over, Lawrence said he is concerned that future complaints might lead to further discussion about late-night vending on Broom Street. He cited concerns with the processes of the committee and said if the issue is brought up again, it might not work out in his favor.

Lawrence said he was typically the only vendor who spoke at the committee meetings, compared to the restaurant owners, landlords and city officials. The process ultimately came down to whomever spoke out the most got the attention, rather than looking at the quality of what was being said, he said.

While the compromise took the committee a long time to reach, Verveer said it was a long time coming.

“Hopefully these late night vending issues are behind us, at least for this season,” Verveer said.

The committee also unanimously approved another amendment to make the closing times for sidewalk cafes with alcohol licenses consistent throughout the city.

The amendment requires establishments with a sidewalk café to stop serving alcohol and clear all alcohol off outdoor tables by 1 a.m., according to Verveer. The previous ordinance allowed different parts of the city to have different end times for alcohol sale, he said.

Verveer said the committee has discussed issues with sidewalk cafés many times, but this was the first time the amendment was up for a vote.

Both amendments will face final approval from City Council at its April 30 meeting.

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‘Meet and Eat’ food cart program to expand in Madison

MADISON, Wis. –

Madison Meet and Eat, the program that brings food carts to targeted city neighborhoods, will expand into three communities this summer.

The events, which started last year in the Meadowood neighborhood on Madison’s southwest side, were in demand from groups across the city who wanted their communities included, Mayor Paul Soglin said.

“It provides a place for folks to come in and discover who lives next door, who lives down the block, and start making a commitment to their neighborhoods,” Soglin said.

This summer, the program will visit the Villager Mall on Madison’s south side on Tuesdays in July, then on the north side St. Paul’s Church on Sherman Avenue on Tuesdays in August.

Meet and Eat’s vendors will come back to the Meadowood Shopping Center on Thursdays in July and August.

All of the events are scheduled from 5 to 7:30 p.m. Nine food cart vendors have signed up to participate.

The program allowed neighbors to meet each other last summer in the Meadowood neighborhood, said Marlys Miller, who’s lived there for 17 years.

“Since it’s ‘Meet and Eat,’ we took it upon ourselves to say, ‘Well, we’re here to meet people,” she said.

Miller said she’s seen an increased number of people interested in community working groups on economic and safety issues, too.

“You’ve got to eat anyway, so take some time out and get to know some people,” she said. “That just makes ‘home’ a better place to be.”

Soglin said his plan is to target neighborhoods with transient populations, or residents who move in and out quickly. One student attended nine different schools last school year, Soglin said.

“Not only is it an important problem — and it’s high up there — but it’s one that’s oftentimes overlooked,” he said, because people won’t look out for neighbors they don’t know.

Soglin said the Meet and Eat is designed to get groups of neighbors talking and interested in bonding together to improve their communities.

The program’s expansion is costing the city “a couple thousand dollars,” which covers the cost of the Parks Department’s picnic tables and the coupons distributed through a nonprofit group so low-income households can purchase food from the vendors, he said.

The city has asked food cart vendors to have at least one plate option available at less than $3 this year.

Denver Food Carts Concerned About Recent Warnings from City

DENVER, CO - Push-cart food vendors in Denver are concerned they may soon be pushed out of business because of an old Denver ordinance.

“It’s food, not alcohol so what’s the problem,” asked a vendor who didn’t want to be identified.

The problem surrounds a 1985 ordinance that states push-cart vendors can’t sell food after midnight. Vendors often sell everything from ribs to hot dogs out of the carts outside popular bars and nightclubs in downtown Denver.

A vendor told 7NEWS he makes a large majority of his money around the time clubs are closing.

“I’ve calculated it to be 70 or 80 percent of our money comes between 1:30 a.m. and 2:30 a.m. — just when the most people are out there on the street,” the vendor said.

Public works employees have been issuing warnings in recent weeks to vendors who sell food after midnight. 7NEWS went to the department for answers.

“I can absolutely understand their concerns,” said Ann Williams, spokeswoman for Denver Public Works.

Williams said the department is aware of vendor concerns and that it’s up to the city council to change the wording of the ordinance. Until the council decides to change or keep the restriction, the department will only issue warnings to vendors.

“As far as the time restrictions go, they should go ahead and continue with what they had been doing, knowing that we aren’t going to cite them for a time restriction violation right now until we get this resolved,” Williams said.

There’s no clear timeline of how long it will take the council to decide on changing or keeping the ordinance.

Find the original article by Don Champion at thedenverchannel.com here

Food cart vendors, restaurant owners reach compromise on late night vending …

Local restaurant owners, food cart vendors and a city street vending committee agreed to a compromise Wednesday to limit where street vendors can park along Broom Street during late night vending hours.

The compromise came after a series of Vending Oversight Committee meetings to address complaints from nearby restaurants, including Silver Mine Subs and Pita Pit, that late night cart vendors are taking away business.

The proposed amendment limits the locations on Broom Street where vendors are permitted to park. Under the agreement, food carts that could previously park directly in front Broom Street restaurants would only be able to park on the opposite side of the street.

While some vending spots would be eliminated, nine spots would remain on a first-come first-serve basis. Food cart and restaurant owners expressed support for the amendment.

Pita Pit owner Courtney Palm said she never had the intention of putting anyone out of business.

“I think the goal for everyone has been to find a fair and balanced way for all of the businesses to thrive,” Palm said. “I am hoping that the amendment does that for us, and helps to create a good atmosphere for all of the business here.”

Steve Lawrence, owner of the Fried and Fabulous food cart, said the compromise addresses the restaurants’ concerns while allowing his cart to remain in business.

“I’m very pleased with balanced approach that the committee has decided to take, and I am ultimately excited to get back to running my business,” he said.

The VOC will make its final vote on the amendment at its next meeting.

Push-cart food vendors worry their closing-time sales outside clubs could be …

DENVER – Push-cart food vendors in Denver are concerned they may soon be pushed out of business because of an old Denver ordinance.