The Springfield Parking Authority has defended the ticketing of the hot dog stands pending any change to the existing law that prohibits stationary carts in the road.
SPRINGFIELD – A City Council committee plans to meet Wednesday with various department heads and downtown representatives to renew debate on how to regulate hot dog vendors after one curbside businessman complained that he has repeatedly gotten parking tickets.
The council’s Public Health and Safety Committee has scheduled the meeting at 4 p.m., at City Hall, to hear from the officials and John C. Verducci III, who operates a stand on Worthington Street and pleaded for a solution to the tickets at a recent council meeting during the public speak-out.
The council had granted approval to a home rule bill in 2009, intended to allow the vendors to be licensed by the police commissioner, but the bill never passed the state Legislature.
Verducci, of Agawam, said he has been ticketed at times during the past three years, but decided to seek relief when the fines began totaling $100 a week in October.
“The whole thing is ludicrous,” Verducci said. “It’s really not that complicated. This is like a hit below the belt. You should not be giving food trucks tickets like this.”
Springfield Parking Authority Manager Ehsanul “Bokul” Bhuiya said last week that enforcement officers are just upholding the law that currently prevents “unattached trailers” from being parked on the streets beyond the two-hour parking limit.
Until the law is changed, “I don’t have the authority to show any favoritism and not issue any tickets,” Bhuiya said. Some other vendors have also been given tickets, he said.
Verducci, an Agawam resident who has operated a food cart in Springfield for 28 years, said he is seeking the same permission to conduct business as allowed in many other communities.
In other communities, vendors are licensed to operate and pay an annual fee, which is what he would expect, he said.
In 2009, Verducci was among vendors seeking help from the City Council, saying he was being unfairly ordered from his longtime spot in the downtown by the Parking Authority, as then ordered by Mayor Domenic J. Sarno. He said he was being targeted under a 1934 law for “hawkers and peddlers” that forbid stationary carts at roadside.
Verducci has also appealed his tickets to the parking authority.
Verducci said he typically operates Thursday, Friday and Saturdays on Worthington Street, and gets $50 tickets each day on the first two days.
Verducci said he should not have to be afraid of coming to work by expecting a parking ticket.
The council could decide to resurrect the old home rule bill, pass it with any new amendments, and resubmit it for consideration by the state Legislature, officials said.
Under the old bill, approval of licenses was required by the police commissioner who would rely on advice from the director of public works and the director of health and human services, taking into account such issues as insuring vendors do not disrupt traffic or public order.
Under one provision of the initial bill, vendors would be ranked on seniority, meaning consecutive years of operation, and first-site assignments would be seniority ranked, allowing long-term vendors to keep their present locations.