(Christopher Sadowski)
SIZE MATTERS: A 14-foot cart like this one (left) in Midtown yesterday will soon be banned, but another one just down the block (right) will make the cut at just the right size. (
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First, they went after the large sodas. Now, they’re coming for the jumbo food carts.
The city’s Health Department announced a crackdown yesterday against super-sized street food carts, proposing a new limit of 5 by 10 feet — including signs and extensions — for all nonmotorized carts.
For reasons lost to history, the city imposes size restrictions on carts that dispense hot dogs, pre-packaged foods and fruits and vegetables.
But those that line busy sidewalks with offerings of freshly repared meat dishes — known to most customers as halal carts — have been allowed to grow as big as their customers’ waistlines.
Some vendors have taken advantage of the loophole by expanding their operations, grabbing more and more precious sidewalk space each year.
“It didn’t quite make sense,” according to one city official.
“There’s been literal growth in the size of carts. We’re trying to balance the competing interests for sidewalk space. Now, it’s the same for everybody.”
Vendors questioned yesterday seemed resigned to make do within the new confines.
Tan Van, 27, who has stationed a juice cart at 46th Street and Sixth Avenue for five years, said carts should be tailored to sidewalk widths.
“Sometimes, we need more space. Sometimes, when it’s busy, we need to fit three people in here — one person cutting, one preparing and one serving to keep the line moving.”
Van said his own cart is a standard 5-by-10.
A block from City Hall, Mohammed Jamil Hossain, 25, was dispensing halal fare in a cart that was within the newly proposed limit.
He said he had no issue with size requirements, and his only beef was about the ever-changing rules over sanitation issues.
Hossain said he got a summons because his lettuce and tomato mixture was “out of temperature,” the first time he was told there was such a violation for salad.
When he informed a vendor’s cousin about the summons, the cousin proceeded to add ice to the salad in his cart to keep down the temperature and avoid his own ticket.
Hossain recalled that an inspector dropped by his cousin’s cart and asked, “Why you put ice in the salad? Never put ice in salad.”
Health officials said they are also clarifying their food-safety regulations so vendors will have a better understanding of what they need to do to keep their products safe.
The rules can be confusing, officials conceded. A food cart that prepares raw meat for its meals has to be equipped with a sink for washing hands, while hot-dog carts selling package meat do not.
In a further attempt to rein in the industry, the city is going to require that some 5,000 holders of cart permits show up every two years to secure their $200 renewals.
A few years ago, the Department of Investigation found a thriving black market in permits that were going for as much as much as $15,000 each.
Some of the permit holders of record lived as far away as Texas, making it clear their real business was in illicit licensing and not food.
Additional reporting by Jessica Simeone