By Eli Locke
Sentry Staff Reporter
Every day, students line up to buy their lunch – not from the school lunchroom, but from food trucks. A part of many students’ everyday routine, the food trucks that park at our school are undoubtedly popular.
Sophomore Talia Gutierrez went as far as to rate her experience at the food trucks as a 9/10, and elaborated,
“I think it’s important to the students and the school as a whole because it creates more options to choose from besides school lunch.”
This trend is also popular in places like Crystal City, Ballston, Rosslyn, and Farragut Square. However, due to the food truck fad becoming especially prominent in the past couple of years, many food truck owners have become fed up with current Arlington County legislation.
In 2008, the Arlington County Board voted to allot food trucks a maximum parking time of one hour in one place. In recent years, many food truck entrepreneurs who park their trucks and serve Arlingtonians lunch are becoming restless with what they see as a highly restrictive time law. On April 20th, the Arlington County Board will hear the case for changing the food truck time law, known as Chapter 30, from one hour to two hours. Local food truck owners say that the one hour limit often causes them to close up shop and leave hungry customers without lunch. Even though the law has not yet been passed, local food truck owners are still optimistic.
“Of all the jurisdictions in the area, Arlington seems to understand best how to manage the various interests of all…We look forward to continuing our work with the county as it is moves into the next stage of its regulatory process,” said Doug Povich, owner of the Red Hook Lobster Pound food truck. Povich also serves food in D.C., and is on the board of directors of the D.C. Food Truck Association.
Meanwhile, another piece of legislation is suggesting that food trucks will in fact be moving in large numbers from their spots in D.C. to come to Arlington. The D.C. Committee on Business, Consumer and Regulatory Affairs is scheduled to hold a public hearing on proposed food truck regulations on May 10th. Many in the public who enjoy sampling food trucks, as well as the owners themselves, are opposed to new regulations set to be passed by the Affairs Committee.
These regulations would limit parking spaces for trucks and, most controversially, only allow trucks to park if there is already a line of people waiting for lunch. Food trucks usually draw customers to them by parking first, while others like ice cream trucks would benefit from such laws because they are able to draw customers by ringing their bells and do not usually park in one place for a long time. Therefore, some residents of D.C. and Arlington are suggesting that these new cutbacks could incite an exodus of food trucks out of Washington and into Arlington. Furthermore, if the legislation in Arlington passes and trucks are allowed to stay for two hours instead of one, this supposed migration would only increase.
Even though the regulations both in Arlington and the District still have yet to pass, one highly touted food truck has already closed. Basil Thyme, owned by Brian Farrell, was consistently one of the highest-rated food trucks on food review website Yelp!, with one reviewer calling Farrell’s lasagna the best he had ever tasted. Farrell not only feels frustrated with current legislation, but fears that the new laws could only make trying to do business even more stressful. Therefore, Farrell has decided to terminate his business.
“The city of D.C. has been nothing but a series of hurdles and difficulties… They’re just painful to deal with,” Farrell commented.
From K Street in D.C. to Yorktown Boulevard in Arlington, food trucks are nothing short of irresistible. With the most popular items among students being “milkshakes and ice cones”, according to Gutierrez, it is clear that the food trucks commonly known as “Mo’s” and “Raspidos” are very different from D.C. establishments that serve tacos and sandwiches. However, new regulations in both Arlington and Washington might in fact lead to an influx of food trucks to our area.
