CITY HALL — Food trucks would be allowed to dish out their savory and sweet treats for up to six hours at a time on Chicago's streets under a measure introduced by 1st Ward Ald. Joe Moreno.
Moreno said he crafted the measure after a Cook County judge upheld an ordinance approved by the City Council in 2012 that keeps food trucks 200 feet away from any brick and mortar eatery and limits the trucks to no more than two hours in one location.
"The bottom line is that we have an incredible food truck movement in Chicago, but it lags behind other cities," Moreno said. "The current law doesn't make any sense."
With the measure set to be considered by the Council's Committee on License and Consumer Protection in January, Moreno said he was willing to work with his colleagues on setting locations where the food trucks could park, perhaps after a petition drive to gauge the support of nearby residents.
Mayor Rahm Emanuel has promised to study the measure.
Moreno said the Council needed to acknowledge that the current ordinance "doesn't do any good."
"We've got to change with the time," Moreno said. "We should embrace food trucks. We should regulate them, but not over-regulate them."
Gabriel Wiesen, president of the Food Truck Association, said the two-hour limit makes it "literally" impossible for food trucks to do business in Chicago, since it takes 30 to 40 minutes to set up and another 30 to 40 minutes to break down their trucks.
"That creates a safety hazard," Wiesen said.
Moreno's proposal is a positive first step, Wiesen said.
"We're open to working with the city," Wiesen said. "Right now, having a food truck is not a viable business in Chicago, and that should change."
A spokesman for the Illinois Restaurant Association did not respond to a message seeking a response to Moreno's proposal.
Lawyers from the Institute for Justice, representing Cupcakes for Courage food truck owner Laura Pekarik, have said they will appeal the judge's ruling upholding the city's ordinance.
Food trucks that violate the ordinance can face fines from $1,000 to $2,000.
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