Emanuel trying to clear food trucks for airport takeoff
Food trucks that have become a pivotal part of Chicago’s culinary scene would be allowed to set up shop in staging areas at O’Hare and Midway Airports under a mayoral plan proposed Wednesday.
Mayor Rahm Emanuel brokered the 2012 ordinance that legalized mobile food trucks with cooking on board. He now wants to open up the lucrative airport market to food trucks, just as he did for ride- hailing giants Lyft and Uber.
At Wednesday’s City Council meeting, Emanuel introduced an ordinance that authorizes Aviation Commissioner Ginger Evans to establish areas at O’Hare and Midway where food trucks could remain, without having to move every two hours, as is required on Chicago streets.
The mayor’s office said the intent is to have food trucks serve ride- sharing and taxicab staging areas at the airports.
The ordinance authorizes Evans and Business and Consumer Protection Commissioner Samantha Fields to “jointly designate any other exempt locations” at O’Hare and Midway, provided those sites “will not interfere with traffic or public safety.”
“No such designation shall include an airport terminal,” the ordinance states.
The mayor’s plan comes at a time when the City Council’s food truck cham- pions are still trying to broker a compromise to soften rigid city regulations upheld by a Circuit Court judge.
In December, Illinois Restaurant Association President Sam Toia threw his formidable support behind a plan to allow Chicago food trucks to park and stay longer in one legal space — perhaps up to six hours.
Ald. Proco Joe Moreno ( 1st) had proposed the sixhour window that Chicago food trucks would be permitted to set up shop in one location; that’s triple the current limit of two hours.
Moreno argued then that a legislative solution was the only alternative after food truck owners lost their court fight to overturn the city’s restrictive food truck ordinance.
The alderman said he was somewhat flexible on the six hours, but food truck owners who take “40 minutes to set up and 40 minutes to tear down” needed longer than two hours to stay in one place if they are to survive and thrive in Chicago. Toia agreed. “The hours should be raised. Two hours is definitely too short of a time, too quick of a turnover time. Restaurateurs understand that you’ve got to set up and break down any time you’re opening and closing a restaurant or food truck,” said Toia, former owner of Leona’s Restaurants.