The carts are here to stay, at least for the time being.

After being relocated from Schenley… The carts are here to stay, at least for the time being.

After being relocated from Schenley Plaza on March 1, the owners of the food carts were given a four-month reprieve that allowed them to extend their permits until June 30.

Now, six days after that deadline, the future of the carts is still uncertain.

“There has really been no decision made,” said Dan Gilman, a spokesperson for Councilman Bill Peduto — a public advocate for the food providers who service the Oakland area. “We’re going to try to accommodate them and see what options are out there.”

The carts’ permits originally expired on January 31, in order to allow construction to begin on a park area that will replace the former Schenley Plaza parking lot. Peduto began lobbying for an extension and relocation for the vendors.

Early in March, Mayor Tom Murphy approved a move to Thackeray Street, where the vendors have been located ever since.

The March move to Thackeray Street wasn’t the answer some vendors were looking for however

Vilnay Patidar — owner of the Indian cart Kashmiri — said he isn’t happy at his new location. He said business has dropped significantly in the last four months.

“We’ve had a 65 percent cut in business,” he said. “No one comes here anymore.”

Patidar has a suggestion on how to fix the problem, one that he thinks would have been able to prevent the whole problem.

“Put us back outside the park,” he said. “When this all happened, they were saying there was going to be no parking but now there are meters there.”

Patidar added that the space the carts are parked in now would be perfect for additional metered parking. He said that people park there illegally when the carts aren’t there.

Not every vendor is so upset though.

A few carts down from Kashmiri, Vichien Namsai operates Namsai Express, a Thai food business.

He said that he isn’t irritated about the situation. Business is down at the moment — with summer classes cutting the student traffic drastically — but he said he would be happy anywhere they put him, even if the carts remain on Thackeray Street.

“Whatever they do is fine,” he said. “I don’t really know what’s going on yet, but staying here if fine with me.”

Patidar is also in the dark about what will be going on after July.

“They don’t really know anything yet,” he said. “They will renew our license, we’ve been told, but they’re working on it so we don’t know yet.”

Gilman said a bill has been introduced in council that would extend the vendor’s permits until the end of July, allowing council to look at the activity of the last three months and make a decision on their final fate.

Nevertheless, he said Peduto is doing everything possible to keep the carts in Oakland.

“This is not a permanent decision,” Gilman continued. “We’ve been on-site with public works, and we need to find if this is the best location. It may not be where they’d like to stay, but we’re going to try to find a solution.”

A final decision on the situation is expected sometime this month.