After Recent Court Ruling, Police Kick Trucks Out of Midtown

For the last few weeks, Midtown Lunch has reported on an alarming uptick in police confrontations with food trucks, with reports of trucks getting the boot from the West 50's, the 40's, the 30's and beyond. Now the Times jumps on the case to explain why the police seem to be systematically removing all the trucks—a growing lifeblood for the Midtown Lunching office workers—from the area.

Earlier this year, the owner of the Upper East Side's Paty's Taco Truck was hit by a ticketing blitz, had her truck towed, and was arrested after neighbors and businesses that didn't want her on the block continually complained to cops. She took the case to court and lost. In that case a judge reinforced a city regulation, supposedly from the 1950s, prohibiting vendors from parking in a metered space to offer "merchandise for sale from the vehicle." Since that May 24 decision, the police department has upped the enforcement and will continue to do so in all five boroughs.

What's to become of the growing fleet of gourmet food trucks? Apparently, they need to find non-metered spaces and keep in mind that the Parks Department is still inviting them to come out and play.
· Food Trucks Shooed From Midtown [NYT]
· All Coverage of Paty's Taco Truck [~ENY~]
[ML]