APPLETON, WI (WTAQ-WLUK) – Appleton city staff withdrew a proposed modification Monday to an ordinance limiting what times food trucks could operate in the central business district.
The change was originally brought forward in an attempt to curb violence downtown. Now, city officials believe they can do so without affecting operating times for vendors.
Last month, following two fatal shootings, Appleton officials and law enforcement began looking into ways to promote downtown safety. That included three proposed measures: upgrades to lighting, security camera requirements for all class B establishments, and cutting off operating times for vendors, like food trucks, several hours earlier.
“There’s a lot of layers to the ordinance and we think that providing an educational piece on better operations and adherence to the existing ordinances will go a long ways,” Appleton Public Works Director Danielle Block told the city’s Municipal Services Committee.
But on Monday, that committee agreed to withdraw the recommendation to change street vendor operating times from midnight to 4:00 a.m.
“Business isn’t even there until one, two o’clock in the morning,” Fox Valley Food Truck Association President Kyle Fritz said. “So, if there was anybody that that was the bulk of their income, you would have essentially been putting them out of business.”
Eliminating the proposal was largely spurred by public feedback. Fritz said after bar close is the most significant time for the downtown food trucks.
“Vast majority of the business doesn’t even happen until after 2 a.m. so if this ordinance would have went through, there really wouldn’t have been a really or any food truck or stands to be down there.”
The proposal was first introduced with the goal of reducing congestion in an already busy area of College Avenue. By shifting their focus to better enforcement of existing ordinances, city officials believe they can still do just that.
“It was missed, quite frankly, in looking at the ordinance, that piece about having to be off the side streets by nine o’clock,” Appleton Police Chief Polly Olson said.
They also say implementing one separate, previously introduced change, will help.
“I think lighting is probably one of the simplest ways that we can probably try to prevent some crime and I think that is quite honestly just a common sense way of thinking that in terms of if you have an area that is well lit, it’s less likely that you’re going to have some type of criminal activity,” Olson said at the Municipal Services Committee’s Feb. 26 meeting.
The Common Council approved upgrades to lighting at the Walnut Street and College Avenue intersection during its March 6 meeting.
Police say they will continue to monitor the downtown area and may come back with new proposals if they don’t see improvements in the area after the summer months.
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