By Gabriela Resto-Montero
DNAinfo Reporter/Producer
CITY HALL — A proposed three strikes and you're out bill for food trucks across Manhattan would kill the entire industry just to root out a few of its worst offenders, street vendor advocates argued at a hearing Wednesday.
The bill, introduced by City Councilwoman Jessica Lappin of the Upper East Side last week, would revoke the licenses of food trucks after three tickets for parking violations.
"Three violations in a year are not very many considering you're out on the street 365 days a year," said David Weber, 33, co-owner of the Rickshaw Dumpling Truck, which parks on East 86th Street several nights a week.
Food truck owners accrue between five and 10 parking tickets every year, said Kim Ima, 42, owner of The Treats Truck, which travels around the Upper West Side, Midtown and Gramercy. The penalties range from $65 to $105, and are for a variety of parking violations, according to Ima.
As the hearing kicked off, the vendors got an unexpected boost from Mayor Michael Bloomberg's administration, which is opposed to the bill on the grounds that it would be difficult to enforce and that it would impose a severe punishment for a minor infraction.
"Singling out food vendors for the loss of their livelihood for common parking offenses and anecdotal quality of life complaints is unnecessarily excessive," the administration said in a letter submitted to the council.
But Lappin said the bill was important to city residents and would not apply to vendors who follow the rules, only to those who feed the meter to stay in one spot all day.
"I can't do that, they can't do that and no one can do that because the streets belong to the public," Lappin said before the hearing at 250 Broadway.
Residents who complained of food trucks parking all day at East 86th Street and Lexington Avenue said that in addition to presenting sanitation issues and traffic flow problems, the food trucks took away parking spots from other businesses.
"There has to be a balanced approach and taking over a spot is not really a balanced approach," said Michele Birnbaum, vice president of the East 86th Street Association, who supported the bill.
Members of the Street Vendor Project delivered 500 fake tickets to Jessica Lappin signed by those who oppose the bill. And Wednesday, the Waffles and Dinges truck reportedly tried to sweeten the deal for those who supported vendors by offering up free waffles outside the hearing.
Oleg Voss, 28, owner of the Schnitzel and Things truck urged the Council to work with vendors to come up with reasonable laws.
"Everybody loves the Schnitzel," Voss said of the success of his business. "The bill will be dropped the minute you taste the first bite."
