At parks and busy intersections across Minneapolis, migrants peddle mangoes dusted with chili lime seasoning for small bills. Many street food vendors are asylum seekers from South America trying to make a buck in lieu of having work permits.
They usually earn less than $60 a day, yet the city’s annual fee for a single sidewalk food cart was $719 (or $499 for multiple carts). Unable to afford licensure or ignorant of how to get licensed, they would get slapped with ticket after ticket they couldn’t pay.
In an effort to help vendors step into compliance with health codes, the City Council on Thursday unanimously approved lowering the sidewalk food cart license fee to $63.
“The city is already spending tons of money on enforcement ... sending folks with the police department, along with health department, to go give citations or so forth into these situations,” Council Member Jason Chavez said. “By helping do this, we’re going to be able to create more entrepreneurship for our city. It’s going to be a great thing.”
According to a fiscal analysis of the change, sidewalk food cart licensing is not a big source of revenue for the city. Staff knew of only five approved carts, generating $2,715. With the reduced rate, an influx of applications is expected. But it’s unclear how many more people will want to get on board, and how much it will cost the city administratively to bring them into the legal economy.
Council Members Linea Palmisano and LaTrisha Vetaw led a spirited debate on how to keep the license fiscally sustainable.
“We see restaurants go viral every day and become multi-million dollar restaurants,” Vetaw said. “So a business can start out with this super inexpensive fee and then go viral and become a huge business, and we’re still going to let them pay the [$63] ... I don’t understand how this could be an ongoing thing.”
The council’s choice was between lowering Minneapolis’ street food fee, as other cities including Chicago and Los Angeles have, or total noncompliance, Council Member Jeremiah Ellison said.
