Proposal made to keep vendors truckin’

Councilman Bill Peduto spent his lunch hour at the food trucks he has fought to save.

After… Councilman Bill Peduto spent his lunch hour at the food trucks he has fought to save.

After more than a thousand members of the Pitt community signed petitions supporting the food trucks, Peduto announced a proposal to move them to DeSoto Street, next to the west side of the Graduate School of Public Health building. City Council will hold a preliminary vote on the proposal today.

“I called [Pitt]. They said they had no new place for [the trucks],” Peduto said. “I called the mayor’s office, and no one got back to me. This was a last-minute decision, since their license is up in a few days.”

The location across from Children’s Hospital was chosen for its proximity to Pitt’s campus and the absence of parking meters along DeSoto Street.

“If you take one meter out, you start a war,” Peduto said.

“The fences go up at the end of the month,” said Dan Gilman of Peduto’s office, referring to the beginning of construction on Schenley Park Plaza slated for Feb. 28. “We’re hoping there won’t be a day when the trucks can’t open.”

“I think the park is going to make Oakland look beautiful,” said Chuck Bonasorte, operator of The Pittsburgh Stop, the clothing vendor at Forbes Avenue and Bigelow Boulevard. “But no one should forget the little guys that make Oakland colorful.”

Bonasorte’s establishment has not yet received its renewed license. The construction project will remove 20 feet of the 60-foot curb on which The Pittsburgh Stop is situated. Bonasorte does not foresee a major problem, saying, “I still have 40 feet.”

The relocation will apply to all food vendors in Schenley Plaza and across from Hillman Library, save one.

The case regarding the hot dog vendor Gene Scott, known as “Scottie,” is still pending in the Court of Common Pleas.

“As long as the law department is involved, I can’t even get near [the case],” Peduto said. “But we’ll find a place for him, as well.”

Peduto also gave credit to Pitt’s University Senate, which informed his office of the trucks’ eviction early on and passed the first petition encouraging the University and the city to work together to find a solution.

“We have to thank their efforts,” Peduto said.

Peduto took a few minutes to speak with Vinay Patidar, owner of the Kashmiri truck, about the move.

“You are one of the things that makes Oakland special for people,” Peduto said, also referring to the posters that used to adorn Oakland, describing it as “a world within a city.”

Patidar expressed some concern that his entire clientele would not walk the extra distance to DeSoto Street, saying several of his customers come from nearby Carnegie Mellon University.

“I think this will open up a whole new crowd,” Peduto said. “You’ll be right next to the medical center and the hospitals, and the students on the hill will also come down.”

Peduto also emphasized that the move is temporary and will only last until June 30.

“It’s a four-month trial thing,” Peduto said. “If the trucks or the ambulances have problems, we can address it then.”

As of yesterday afternoon, two councilmen — Alan Hertzberg and Len Bodack — had pledged their support of the relocation bill. Five people in the nine-member council must vote in favor of the bill for it to pass. After that, it would require the mayor’s signature to go into effect.

Peduto asked Pitt students looking to help the trucks to call the mayor’s office at (412) 255-2626 and express their support for the relocation bill.

“City Council is one thing,” Peduto said. “For bigger things, we need the mayor.”