Politics & Government

New Law Would Force Hot Dog Cart to Cut Hours

City Council moves to update its street vendor licensing law, including a provision to limit hours of operation. Easy Weenies owners say they would lose business.

 

Bethlehem’s hot dog cart man is open after midnight six days a week on W. Fourth Street to feed people who stream out of South Bethlehem bars as they close.

But under a new bill, which City Council adopted on first reading Tuesday night, late-night hot dog cravings might have to go unsatisfied on Mondays, Tuesdays and Wednesdays.

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Council is revising its year-and-a-half old street vending law. Ostensibly, the revisions were aimed at streamlining and simplifying the approval process.

However, council also decided to limit the potential hours of operation, a move that would force the Easy Weenies cart to close three nights it currently opens.

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The new law would allow street vendors to operate between 6 a.m. and 4 a.m. – a 22-hour window – on Thursday, Friday and Saturday. But Sunday through Wednesday, the window of potential operating hours narrows to between 6 a.m. and 6 p.m.

The vote to adopt the new regulation was 6-0, with all but the absent J. William Reynolds voting in favor. A second reading and final adoption of the bill could happen on March 20.

At one point during the discussion, Councilwoman Karen Dolan questioned the need to limit hours at all, but ultimately suggested the adopted language as a compromise. An earlier version of the bill limited hours even further. “Those seem like civilized hours,” she said.

Michael Hernandez, who, with his brother Chris Morales, operates the cart, said he is not completely displeased with the new law, but he hopes they can convince council to allow their business to open late nights on Mondays, Tuesdays and Wednesdays.

Limiting hours would be “very detrimental” to the business, Morales told council. “We’ll lose a significant amount of money,” he said.

The cart’s core business is weekday lunches and late-night snacks.

Currently, the street vendor ordinance applies only to Easy Weenies, which is currently the lone street vendor operating in Bethlehem.


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