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Area alderman Nik Kovac secured unanimous approval for legislation that bans food trucks along E. Brady St. at today’s meeting of the Common Council. Kovac noted there was support for the idea from a number of stakeholders in the area, including Brady Street Business Improvement District executive director Steph Salvia, BID chair and Casablanca owner Alaa Musa and Dogg Haus owner Mazen Muna (see update below for more information on the BID’s plans).

“In many cases the food trucks are selling the same food as the brick-and-mortar businesses and parking right in front of them,” Kovac told the council. He also noted the trucks occupy a number of parking spaces along the busy street.

Kovac’s legislation is an amendment to the regular parking controls legislation that regulates on-street parking spaces. Because it was not introduced at the Public Works Committee , no public hearing was held on Kovac’s amendment.

In a follow-up interview with Urban Milwaukee, Kovac noted he didn’t introduce the proposal at the Public Works Committee because the matter came up after the meeting and he wanted to get it taken care of in a hurry to support Brady Street businesses. Kovac noted that “food trucks are still welcome on the East Side, just not right in front of businesses they’re competing with… I’m certainly not trying to be unwelcoming to food trucks in general, but they should be courteous to their peers.”

Kovac’s move is not without precedent. In 2015 the late alderman Joe Dudzik proposed legislation regarding “selling articles from parked vehicles” that would have effectively banned food trucks from the entire 11th aldermanic district. That legislation, which generated substantial opposition from food trucks, was rejected by the full council by a 10-to-4 vote. Kovac voted in opposition to that restriction.

The Brady Street ban will apply to the boundaries of the Brady Street Business Improvement District. The district runs the length of Brady Street from N. Jackson St. on the west to N. Farwell Ave. on the east with short branches out on the intersection streets. The ban, if signed by mayor Tom Barrett, would be in effect on all days of the week.

UPDATE: Alaa Musa, who chairs the business improvement district, reached out to tell Urban Milwaukee that “I am currently working with the board on ways that we can accommodate the business owners request, but also allow food trucks to be on the street with added restrictions. In the coming weeks we will be working closely with the alderman and the city to come to a resolution that will hopefully satisfy all parties.”

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Milwaukee Food Trucks