Thursday, January 2, 2014

Controversial halal food cart on Avenue A moves … a few feet around the corner

Well! The world's most controversial halal food cart that arrived last week on the southeast corner of Avenue A and East Second Street, quickly drawing the ire of some nearby residents, has moved… a few feet around the corner to a new spot on East Second Street…



Oh, if this helps…



A few neighbors had complained of noise, exhaust fumes, dumped ashes and a blocked sidewalk, among other things… someone even papered the block with flyers

The move will now likely infuriate a whole new set of neighbors…



In another development, RyanAvenueA noted that the cart was gone by 9 last night ... several hours earlier than usual...

Previously on EV Grieve:
Angry residents don't want this food cart on Avenue A and East 2nd Street (42 comments)

Avenue A food-cart fight now with flyer campaign (21 comments)

14 comments:

Anonymous said...

These neighborhood bullies need to stop the attack on small business.

peter said...

This is a better location. He wouldn't be clogging the narrow path that is on Ave. A. Not as many people walking on 2 st.
I spoke to the guy a couple days ago. It's not like he has an agenda to ruin people's lives. He's a simple guy who is working a freaking cart. He is unaware of the hoopla there is in the blogisphere about his situation.. Someone from 2A came over and gave him shit, because someone had commented and implied in the Post or here, that they were the worst bar in the area.
He doesn't understand the social dynamics of those comments or of gentrification and drunken bro-dudes, or him ruining the pristine beauty of that street corner. I suggested he move over by the Mexican cart. There's enough room there. But I don't know the subtlety of food cart politics. So I'm not one to talk. While we were talking, some well dressed fellow ordered a chicken shwarma..
so there you go.. he serves some purpose.

Anonymous said...

It's a tough situation. I can see both sides. If my window was right above, I wouldn't be able to deal with the smell. But if it was my cart, I would want to operate on a good corner. It's too bad he couldn't get a spot down on Wall Street or in another business area. Those guys clean up, and they don't get all the complaints.

Anonymous said...

hese neighborhood bullies need to stop the attack on small business.
----------------------

How about the "small businesses" that are under attack from these food carts?

Restaurants have to pay insane taxes, lay out extra for staff, utilities, etc, and meet a higher standard for health codes. And after all that, to have to watch some dirt farmer come along with a tin box and set up shop in front of their door and cut into his customers.

RyanAvenueA said...

@peter... I really don't understand why someone from 2A would walk over and complain to this guy. The quote about 2A being a terrible bar was clearly attributed to the resident who complained to the newspaper about the food cart. Either way, the 2nd street side seems like an improvement.

I did get a kick out of seeing the article taped to his cart. And as for not understanding the social dynamics, I think anybody that puts a picture of the guy complaining about his food cart ON his food cart has a pretty good understanding of how certain things work.

Uncle Waltie said...

"And after all that, to have to watch some dirt farmer come along with a tin box..."

This comment tells way more about its author than a 5 page CV ever could.

Ken from Ken's Kitchen said...

From the Post article on the cart: "...The cart is licensed through the Department of Health and is permitted to be at its current location, agency data show..."

http://nypost.com/2013/12/29/east-villagers-bash-new-halal-food-cart/

The complaints that I've read so far run along the lines of that the cart blocks the sidewalk, pollutes from the generator, smells and is noisy. These strike me as general complaints that are not necessarily specific to this cart. The campaign against this food cart in particular is actually a campaign against food carts in general in the EV.

Maria M said...

anonymous at 10:13 please post which restaurant is yours so I can be sure to never eat there

Jason said...

Yeah, I agree that Food Carts are a general blemish on life in the village. It's ironic that now that the city is so expensive and underpopulated that there are more of the damned things everywhere. Most of the time that I lived in the village there were none anywhere that anyone would complain about.

Glenn Belverio said...

"Dirt farmer"?!? The only dirt farmers in these parts are the bearded faux-hemians in Williamsburg. With organic dirt flown in from Oregon.

IzF said...

10:13 AM must be a nice boss to work for…..

bowboy said...

I find it interesting how the current times are similar to an earlier time in the previous century when carts on the streets were a common complaint. They got there because it had become too expensive to open in a ground floor builidng, like today. The City tried to solve the problem by opening public spaces like Essex Market.

I can't wait to see what today's solution is to the proliferation of these food carts, but there does need to be one. Density is pushing the small business and local resident into more and more of these fights, and we still have not reached a critical mass... but we will... and it will not be pretty.

Anonymous said...

I found this article on the topic interesting
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/12/magazine/the-food-truck-business-stinks.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0

j.b. diGriz said...

'...probably left his own country to escape just this type of persecution.'