Conor Daly: Is this the end of food trucks?

(See below for correction.) Dottie Miller and Jaime Della Polla worry about the approach of Sept. 1, the date when their lease with the University for the space where they park their food truck "The Quaker Shaker" is set to expire. Like their fellow food truck owners, whose businesses constitute the Fresh Air Food Plaza adjacent to Pottruck, they have hung up a petition to gather the support of their devoted customers as a way to prepare themselves for the possibility of a new clash with the University over lease renewal. Miller and her fellow owners know how difficult any lease negotiations with the University can be, and they fear having to go into negotiations without support. "It was the students who helped us five years ago, when the University was trying to overhaul the food truck system," Miller says, as she finishes making a cheesesteak, "and since we don't know what is going to happen with the leases, we are trying to line up that same support again, just in case." The owners have reason to be uneasy about the prospect of lease renewal, and as a result, their increased push toward preparedness for a looming conflict is extremely valid. University officials have caused these conditions by remaining silent about the future of these leases, many times avoiding or blatantly ignoring owners' inquiries about lease renewal and at times, unconvincingly acting like there's nothing to worry about. The University's apparent circling of the wagons on this issue has done little else than create anxiety amongst the owners and augment their already elevated wariness of the University's capabilities to make dismal the prospect of lease renewal. The owners remember what happened five years ago, and they are taking the officials' silence as a sign that cordial relations may yet again turn to enmity and distrust. Five years ago, the University began a process to overhaul the operations of food trucks. Before that time, as both food truck owners and administrators acknowledge, the institution was in complete disarray. Food trucks crowded sidewalks, creating problems for foot traffic. Some had abominable health records, and a few even caused safety problems by providing a shield for would-be muggers. After much negotiation (and a few protests by a group called the Penn Consumer Alliance), the University struck a deal with the vendors on an individual basis and created the plazas where some trucks could congregate, be provided with utilities, electricity and water, as well as services such as trash pickup for the bargain basement price of $1 per year. This plan was accepted by both sides as a mutually favorable compromise. But the owners remained concerned with a single proviso etched into each of their leases: a stipulation that the succeeding lease would include a fee of $400 per month that would be charged of each vendor. Absent any word from the administration, the likelihood owners face is that of a renewed lease that reflects a 400 percent increase in fees. Owners like Della Polla hope this isn't the case, but they have no reason to believe it is not the truth, given the fact that even the administrators he knows are involved in vendor decisions -- most noticeably those who often patronize his cart -- aren't talking. An official from the Office of the Executive Vice President says the University wants to continue its relationship with the carts, retain a food truck system that is well-organized and well-maintained, while at the same time fostering the entrepreneurship of the food truck owners. All of that is good news, but it doesn't change the fact that those who really need to know about these intentions are being avoided and, in some cases, ignored when they attempt to ask officials about their future at the plazas. Without a concerted effort by the administration to raze the wall of silence it has constructed, this situation will only worsen. Its detrimental result will be an impaired regime of negotiations when the University and the owners finally sit down and hammer out solutions to the real points of contention that exist, strained by some administrators' callous treatment of the owners this semester. The two sides of this issue can come to a favorable conclusion for all stakeholders, and I believe that both sides desire such an outcome -- the same players did it five years ago. Arguably, the process could be much less contentious this time than what was experienced in 1998. This time, it's really only about fees. However, that prospect will continue to fade as long as the University maintains its posture of silence and fails to establish lines of open honest communication with plaza food truck owners. Unless and until this happens, the administration can expect an emerging army of outraged food truck patrons, many amongst their own ranks. And not unlike five years ago, the battle lines will be drawn. Conor Daly is a senior Political Science major from Boxford, Mass.

Correction

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