No more late-night hot dogs. Raleigh says food carts must close before downtown bars.
Food pushcarts in Raleigh will now have to shut down early and before downtown bars close.
The city wants to keep hungry patrons from clogging already congested sidewalks as they leave bars after last call, particularly in boisterous Glenwood South.
But food cart vendors say the crowds will still be there, waiting for rides from friends or rideshares, and the change will force them out of business.
“Any change of the hours of operation will permanently and instantly kill our business and cause many of us to lose our income, which we are counting on in the wake of the pandemic crisis and provide for our families,” said Ammar Jawad, president of Taste of New York, which has food carts throughout the city. “We do not want to be a burden, but we do need to survive.”
The Raleigh City Council voted 7-1 to make the change during its meeting Tuesday afternoon. Pushcarts, which had been allowed to operate until 3 a.m., will now have to close at 1:15 a.m. and be cleaned up by 1:45 a.m.
“The consensus that I’ve heard from community members, business leaders in that corridor, as well as our staff at (the Raleigh Police Department), is this is a tool that can be utilized by RPD to bring that particular area under control,” said Council member Stormie Forte. “And to avoid the additional issues as it relates to folks spilling out of the bars and lingering in the area causing a lot of noise, and then filtering into communities after 3 or 4 o’clock in the morning.”
Council member Jonathan Melton opposed the change, asking to move the item to a council committee for further review.
“There seems to be a demand for food after 2 a.m.” he said. “And where are those people going to go if the pushcarts are not there? Not saying they should just stay at 3 a.m. I’m not sure if the answer is 1:15 a.m. And I think it’s worth a deeper look.”
Jawad and Lisa Butler, who also works in the food cart industry, both spoke during the meeting, saying most of their sales happen after 1:30 a.m. when people start to leave the bars. There are usually about 11 food carts on any given weekend night in the Glenwood South area.
“To take our business away will force us to suffer in income for us and for our workers,” Butler said. “It seems the pushcarts are always the subject of conversation. And the rules are always constantly changing. And we’re being blamed for a lot of stuff.”
Changing the hours of operations for food carts has long been debated. It was one of a handful of suggestions on how to make the downtown district safer back in 2019.
“I will tell you that one of the reasons we kept these open till 3 o’clock was so people could get food,” Mayor Mary-Ann Baldwin said. “So they wouldn’t just get in their cars and drive somewhere. It was seen as a different type of safety measure. But at the same time that was before Uber, Lyft, rideshares and whatnot. That’s how long these rules have been in effect.”
Raleigh has made a number of changes to address nearby residents’ concerns about Glenwood South including a new drop-off area for rideshares and dedicated parking areas for scooters. It’s also reviewing whether to increase parking fines for those who park in nearby neighborhoods.
The food cart change goes into effect Dec. 16.
This story was originally published November 16, 2021 at 5:04 PM.
