Food Trucks Banned On Portion of W. Silver Spring Drive

A portion of W. Silver Spring Drive between N. 60th Street and W. Appleton Avenue. Photo by Jeramey Jannene.

Citing concerns about safety for vendors and customers alike, food trucks and other mobile sellers are now banned from using W. Silver Spring Drive between N. 60th Street and W. Appleton Avenue.

The Common Council unanimously adopted the proposal Monday from area council members Mark Chambers, Jr. and Larresa Taylor.

The 2.7-mile stretch on the city’s Far Northwest Side is the third most dangerous in the city for traffic safety said Chambers in an interview. “We have actually seen a couple of people just have regular barbecue grills on Silver Spring,” said the alderman. “People doing illegal sales of shoes. You name it; they’ve done it.”

“Myself and Alderwoman Taylor have been receiving numerous calls from constituents for the activities that have been going on,” said the alderman.

“Mixing in vehicles selling items along that stretch of Silver Spring only adds to the congestion and danger factor, and that’s why the ban is needed,” said Taylor in a statement. Her district includes the north side of the street, east of N. 64th Street. Chambers represents all of Westlawn Gardens, which lines the south side of the street east of N. 68th Street., and the entire corridor west of N. 64th Street.

The measure might not be permanent. “The ban could be relooked at toward the end of the year. Right now, we feel like this is the best remedy for it,” said Chambers.

“It’s just a way to keep our constituents and our city safe,” said Chambers, who noted he didn’t expect to pass a food truck ban.

Why not use the city’s newly-created food truck regulatory framework?

“The problem is during the day,” said Chambers, referencing the late-night restrictions that are targeted at the area around the Water Street bar district. The framework, created by council members Jonathan Brostoff and JoCasta Zamarripa, was ostensibly intended to avoid the need to do block-by-block bans in the future in favor of time-based restrictions and priority-parking spaces.

In the past decade, the city’s food truck regulation has taken the form of slowly adding more and more prohibited streets. Then-alderman Robert Donovan successfully introduced several bans in his southside district, now represented by Zamarripa. Brostoff’s predecessor, Nik Kovac, successfully introduced bans on E. Brady St. and a portion of N. Downer Ave. In 2013, then-alderman Joe Davis, Sr., who preceded future mayor Cavalier Johnson and Chambers in representing the 2nd District, sponsored legislation that banned food trucks from many northwest side arterial streets. Those bans were introduced, according to the sponsors, because of concerns about traffic congestion and parking, often pushed by nearby brick-and-mortar restaurants. Often times they were targeted at just one truck. Davis’ ban intersects with the new ban only at N. 76th Street and W. Silver Spring Drive.

Related Legislation: File 230399