Currently, the town im set up in has no ordinance regulating mobile food vendors.  No license, no fees, no anything except : you have to set up in a town owned parking spot.They kind of got caught with their pants down when I showed up, then another hot dog cart, and now a guy selling cheese steaks out of a truck.  The town I live in had about 13 k full time residents and around 10 k student population.  I have been selling for about 2 months now from around 10 pm till around 2:30 am.  I have been doing good sales at only those times on Thursday Friday and Saturday, but I want to try and sell in town during the lunch hours and possibly quit my other job. There are basically 3 good blocks of space to vend from in the town.
   There was a meeting today with the community and economic development committee to draft an ordinance to regulate the vendors.  Here are the suggestions they came up with and will present to town council:
 
$50 non-refundable application fee
$1200 yearly license fee
First come first serve or lottery for 5 vending licenses (not sure yet)
the 3 current vendors will not be grandfathered in under the new ordinance
vendors will be assigned either a single parking spot or a block (not sure yet)
hours of operation will be strictly limited from 10pm to 3am
 
Also, the 2 biggest days of the year for vendors is block party and homecoming.  The pizza place i currently work at does around 15k gross for block party per day for the 2 day party, and about 8 k on homecoming day.  The $1200 licenses will not cover these days, and separate licenses must be applied for.
 
The things that are really bugging me are the hours or operation and not grandfathering in the current vendors.  Am I out of line in getting upset about this? Is there anything I can do to help change the new laws??  I attended the meeting and made suggestions and got this response “we’ll note your suggestions, but they probably wont go very far”
I have thought about getting a petition signed, or writing letters to the town council.
Any thoughts or insight or suggestions…?