Food trucks would be a great addition to the City of Worcester. Food trucks would encourage people to be small business owners (who otherwise can't for many reasons.) Oftentimes, the food is cheaper from a truck, providing alternatives to some of the pricier establishments in Worcester. This would also continue to diversify the offerings! I think my one concern would be location. The food truck couldn't disrupt the traffic pattern, and for the sake of the owner, would need to be in a location with heavy foot traffic - probably Shrewsbury St., downtown Worcester, or perhaps provide a license to the owner that allows the truck to be in multiple areas of the city on any given day (near a University, a shopping plaza, etc...)
Every major city I have been to allows food trucks and I've waited in some very long lines to try the food. The catch would be marketing the food truck so people know about it, which could take time. Move conversation forward on this!
As someone who worked on a food truck in Boston, let me try to answer your concern on locations.
In my understanding from my short tenure in Boston, (and all over Metro Boston for that matter) you can't park your truck just anywhere. If you're on the street, you're in a city-approved spot. Boston has a long list of spots available and each spot is lotteried off for lunch (11-3) and dinner (5-7/8ish). Some of these spots are on government property (for example, there's two spots on the Government Center plaza) and the same process exists. Some spots, like on the Greenway (basically the green space above where 93 runs in the tunnels), have their own application/lottery process. But you can't just pull up to a curb, open the awning, and say you're open for business. It's a valid parking spot.
Some locations are private lots - and literally that's just you saying to me "Yeah, you can park in our lot and operate every Tuesday at lunch." Even then, it's a spot in a parking lot or area that doesn't block anything.
For those of you wondering what happens when people park in those reserved food truck spots on the street and we showed up with the truck - they got towed. We called Boston Transportation Department (basically the meter maids) and they towed the vehicle and impounded it. No if's, and's, or but's. If the spot was blocked and reported, it got towed if the car owner didn't move in time.
I can't wait to see much better food truck offerings in Worcester.
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