Students may be able to satisfy early morning munchies at downtown food trucks if commissioners change a city law — a move that competing restaurants endorse.
The Gainesville City Commission will vote Thursday to change the hours of downtown mobile food stands, such as hot dog and taco trucks.
The change will allow the stands to stay open until 3 a.m. The current law requires them to close at 10 p.m.
Commission protocol requires commissioners to vote on the ordinance at least one more time at a future meeting before it goes into effect.
However, the Gainesville Police Department loosely enforced the on-the-books rule because keeping the trucks open past 10 p.m. hasn’t caused problems.
Most weekends, a few downtown food stands stay open until after bars close at 2 a.m., said Commissioner Jeanna Mastrodicasa, who also serves as chairwoman of the city’s Public Safety Committee. The committee began discussing the change in September.
In fact, she said, the Public Safety Committee didn’t realize city law required the vendors to close by 10 p.m. until the change was brought up.
“Police were comfortable with the food trucks staying open,” Mastrodicasa said. “They are comfortable with the change.”
Some downtown restaurant managers and bartenders think the new hours of operation could jump-start a food cart revolution in Gainesville and lead to a more vibrant downtown culture.
Warren Oakes, owner and manager of Boca Fiesta, a downtown Mexican restaurant, said he hopes the new hours will motivate more people to open food stands in the area.
He said he might even open one for Boca Fiesta.
Big Lou’s Pizzeria also serves food until 3 a.m., but only on Fridays and Saturdays.
Assistant Manager Jordan Pfeiffer said she is not worried about late-night food vendors affecting business. Instead, she said, she hopes to work with them to keep the downtown economy running smoothly.
A downtown bartender for 30 years, Tom Blake said allowing food stands to stay open late would distract rowdy students from fighting on the streets after the bars close.
“Now they have a chili dog to focus on instead of getting into trouble,” said Blake, a bartender at Lillian’s Music Store.
Contact Adrianna Paidas at apaidas@alligator.org.
