Maria Thomas-Fisher

Rochester

Tonight, my husband, Mike, and I decided to skip cooking and enjoy dinner at the Lilac Festival. Mike headed to the big food tent to buy his favorite: the Garbage Plate. Mike will tell anyone that a significant factor in why he stayed in Rochester after college was this delicious food.

In the food line, we were shocked to see signs posted stating that the City issued 5 tickets to the Nick Tahou's food truck because of violation of a recent law targeting food trucks. Considering that Nick Tahou's is a Rochester institution and that Alex Tahou (son of the founder) has a stellar business reputation, these tickets were a surprise. Alex came out of the food truck to talk to us.

Alex explained that the City issued regulations last year that food trucks must run background checks on all of their employees. Stationary restaurants located in the City of Rochester are not required to perform employee background checks--neither are the other food vendors in the Lilac Festival food tent because they are not food trucks. Nick Tahou's serves from its trailer, and even though the trailer is as stationary as the other tent vendors, the city interpreted the rules like it was a roving food truck.

To add to the confusion, the other non-local carnival food trucks in town specifically for the festival are not required to do background checks. Alex asked city officials why carnival food trucks do not have to follow food truck regulations and was told it was because carnival food trucks are transient in nature. He asked me who I thought was more likely to commit a crime--a person working for him who was invested in the community or a person who will only be in town for a limited time? I can understand his frustration.

People might ask why he is fighting so hard against the background checks. Alex says that he wants to give people a chance to work. He doesn't want to prevent a good worker from working because they made a mistake. An irony here is that City banned the "black box" on its job applications specifically to give people with criminal backgrounds a chance at finding work. The City has staff who are paid to find jobs for people with convictions and advocates strongly for employers to see the person in spite of the conviction. However, they didn't apply this to the food truck policy, which leaves Alex penalized for standing up for his convictions.

Alex was filled with emotion as we talked. He explained that a few days ago, he lost his best friend--a friend of 40 years who would say, "let's take a road trip" and they'd end up at the Grand Canyon. They got in trouble with their parents as kids hanging at the airport until 4am and had amazing adventures together camping in the Adirondacks as adults. His friend was killed in a freak accident. He came back from the funeral on Monday and was ticketed on Tuesday. Alex asserts that he will no longer participate in any city festivals or events--the Air Show and other county events do not enforce the city's food truck regulation.

What a saddening one-two punch for Alex--he first lost a part of his heart and then the city broke the rest. We can do better as a community for a nationally recognized and locally venerated institution. It's time for the City to reassess these regulations and this time add some common sense and some heart to the process. If Nick Tahou's stops participating in city events, we all lose (and Mike will never go to another festival with me).

Please join me in supporting Alex and Nick Tahou's on Saturday at 2pm at the Lilac Festival Tent!