The City of Sunrise will hold a discussion today to determine the fate of food trucks at their monthly City Commission meeting.
The meeting, held at Sunrise City Hall (10770 West Oakland Park Boulevard, Sunrise), held today, January 8 at 6 p.m., might just be a little more spirited than the typical monthly discussion of issues.
That's because about 40 food truck owners and roundup organizers are expected to attend in a show of solidarity. The truckers have formed the Food Truck Alliance of South Florida, a grassroots group whose first mission is to defeat the proposed ban on food trucks in Sunrise.
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According to Robb Muise, owner of Friar Tuck's food truck and a
spokesperson for the group, about 75 food truck owners in south Florida
have joined the alliance including B.C. Tacos, HipPops, Joji Yogurt, Mojo on the Go, Crazydilla, and Munchcakes.
The alliance was formed after December's Commission meeting, which was adjourned early. Though
the official meeting lasted only about two minutes, several food truck
owners in attendance decided to meet for coffee. It was then that they
discussed banding together to fight the potential ban. Through email and
social media, the group grew as food truck owners decided that, with their
livelihoods at stake, there was strength in numbers.
Muise told Clean Plate Charlie that
the alliance is just that. "We do things by general consensus, but I
have some political activism experience, so myself and a few other
owners are taking the reins."
Tomorrow's Sunrise Commission
meeting will see members grouping together, many with the hopes of
getting three minutes in which to voice their opinions. It's the first step in a potential city-wide ban of food trucks.
After this, a vote to ban food trucks could be placed on the agenda of a
future meeting. Muise plans to speak, with the hopes of directly
addressing Commissioner Joey Scuotto, who owns a pizzeria in Sunrise.
Scuotto is against food trucks rolling in Sunrise, having told The Sun-Sentinel back in November, "Why
would I want to allow a rolling
restaurant in
my city when we have restaurants here already that struggle every day?"
Muise wants to ask the Comissioner to prove to the citizens of Sunrise
that owning a restaurant does not make him biased against the mobile
eateries.
Even though Sunrise is just one city in the vast south
Florida terrain, a food truck ban could possibly start a chain-reaction.
Muise is concerned that, "if they ban trucks in Sunrise, maybe Margate is next. All
it takes is one town to have an issue, and we don't want that."
Muise
said that even though the work is hard, he and his fellow truckers are
living the American dream of owning a small business. "There are two
critical things that tie all of us together. We're filled
with passion and we have a shared sacrifice. This year, I actually
became a job creator. I hired an 18 year-old young man who's starting
college with his earnings."
Muise is asking food truck fans,
Sunrise residents, and anyone who "doesn't want government to regulate
free enterprise" to attend tomorrow's meeting or follow the alliance's
progress on friartucks.me or sflfoodtrucks.org.
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