Dining carts must go by Monday

Signs of change are finally appearing in the Schenley Plaza parking lot: gravel, construction… Signs of change are finally appearing in the Schenley Plaza parking lot: gravel, construction equipment and orange cones.

But the new Schenley Park Plaza will transplant more than just grass and pavement. The six city-approved food trucks that currently operate in the parking lot and on the nearby lawn must leave by Monday, to make room for the plaza’s construction.

The owners of the food trucks that now do business there expressed frustration and anxiety about having to leave their spaces.

Vichien Namsai, owner of Namsai Express, which serves Thai food, has worked in Oakland since 1990. He said he is worried about his bills and about paying for college for his children.

“That’s why I work,” he said, “so my daughter and son can go to school.”

Vinay Patidar, the 56-year-old owner of Kashmiri, a truck that serves Indian and Pakistani food, has done business in Oakland for the last five or six years. He explained that he caters to international students who have not yet adjusted to American food, as well as to strict vegetarians, since he prepares vegetarian and non-vegetarian food in separate pans.

He added that he thinks Pitt’s management is using this as a way to remove competition, since the vendors offer a cheaper alternative to Pitt’s cafeteria and local franchise food.

“They think that if they kick out vendors, that the cafeterias will make money and the franchises will give money to Pitt,” he said. “That is what we think.”

“Pitt has no control over parking or the vendors — that is a city issue,” said Reynolds Clark, Pitt’s vice chancellor for community and governmental relations.

“We at the University are very excited about the project because it’s going to be an enhancement to the University and an enhancement to the community at large,” Clark said of the approximately $10.2 million project. “I think everybody’s going to find that it’s going to be a great gathering place.”

Several students and vendor customers are working to help the food truck owners stay in Oakland. Monica Higgins, a Student Government Board member, explained that Vanessa Wills, a graduate student in the philosophy department, contacted SGB about organizing undergrads in support of the food vendors.

Wills is heading a graduate student effort to keep the trucks in Oakland. One of their projects is to circulate a petition and collect signatures from people who would like to see the trucks stay or receive a new, safe, convenient Oakland location. Patidar and Namsai have also posted petition sheets at their trucks.

The trucks currently operate at vending sites approved by the Streets and Sidewalks Vending Site Designation Committee and City Council. But Mary Fleming, assistant chief of code enforcement at Pittsburgh’s Bureau of Building Inspection, said that these sites will be removed at the end of the month.

She added that no other vending sites would be available in the surrounding Oakland area.

Susan Golomb, director of Pittsburgh’s Department of City Planning, explained that the vendors were informed when their sites were renewed that they would lose those sites when construction on the park began. Though vendors may automatically renew the permit for the following year, the city has the right to revoke the location and prohibit vending.

The completed Schenley Park Plaza will include kiosks where visitors can buy food and other items. Unlike the trucks, these kiosks will be permanent buildings with running water, heat and electricity.

The Pittsburgh Parks Conservancy, which will run the plaza when it is complete, will choose the vendors for the kiosks.

Clark explained that the two smaller ones will feature “quick-stop” vending — the sale of small items such as newspapers or coffee — and will be located at the intersection of Pennant Place and Forbes Avenue, by Hillman Library. The two larger kiosks, which will be set up in front of Hillman and Posvar Hall, will hold one or more food service vendors.

Wanda Wilson, a senior neighborhood planner at the Department of City Planning, explained that a partnership, not a single entity, made the decision to use permanent kiosks instead of trucks in Schenley Park Plaza. The institutions behind the Schenley Plaza Project include the Pittsburgh Parks Conservancy, the Oakland Task Force and the Oakland Investment Committee of the Allegheny Conference on Community Development. Pitt is part of both the Oakland Investment Committee and the Oakland Task Force.

“It’s not just Pitt, it’s not just the city,” Wilson said. “All of the partners that are making the Schenley Plaza Project have made a decision that they are moving away from truck vending — not necessarily away from local vendors, but from trucks.”

“We’ve been advocating with the Pittsburgh Parks Conservancy for the use of local vendors,” she continued. “The city is interested in seeing this happen, and a lot of local institutions are as well.”

“Unfortunately for the [truck] vendors, they have to move,” she added, “but this really is a great project for Oakland overall.”

Pitt staff members, who will oversee construction for the Schenley Plaza Project, are currently collecting contracting bids while the Pittsburgh Water and Sewer Authority is putting new lines in the plaza area.

Clark explained that Feb. 15 would be the target start-date for construction, and that Schenley Park Plaza would be complete sometime this November.

Though work on the Schenley Plaza Project was set to begin this summer, the project’s coordinators had to finalize design plans and funding arrangements and obtain permits, which pushed back the start of construction, Clark said.