Evanston aldermen Monday approved on an 8-1 vote an ordinance that would allow mobile food trucks to operate in the city.
The ordinance was sought by the owners of Campagnola and Union Pizzeria, who last month parked the truck they hope to use in the city behind the Civic Center to show it off to aldermen at a council committee meeting.
The only vote against the ordinance Monday came from Alderman Judy Fiske, 1st Ward, who said restaurant owners on Noyes Street and on Benson Avenue downtown had complained to her about the potential competition.
But Alderman Ann Rainey, 8th Ward, said it seemed “so provincial” to bar trucks from some streets, and Alderman Don Wilson, 4th Ward, said Fiske’s proposal to bar the trucks from those streets would be playing favorites with some restaurants.
Alderman Delores Holmes, 5th Ward, noted that the ordinance already contained a ban on a food truck setting up shop within 100 feet of any existing restaurant.
And Alderman Jane Grover, 7th Ward, said that with the existing concentration of restaurants on the two streets the general distance rule would probably bar a food truck from setting up on those streets anyway.
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