Jennifer Martinez, owner of Tacos El Pastorcito Mixe, said a new city policy that will require food trucks near Burnham Park on Milwaukee’s South Side to shut down by 11 p.m. is going to hurt her business.
“Seventy percent of my sales are at night time,” Martinez said. “No matter how early we start operating in the day, there is not much sales.”
She said losing money while food costs and other expenses are high may force her to make unwanted changes.
“I have employees whose wages I need to cover. I feel I’ll have to lay someone off,” she said.
Micaela Antunez, owner of Taqueria La Brazita, another food truck at Burnham Park, said she might also be forced to make changes.
“It will affect us economically because we have workers who we will have to let go,” she said.
Customer Keenan Barnes said he used to live in the neighborhood three years ago and comes back for the food and vibes.
“To see that they’re not open all night, it kind of messes us up, because that’s one of the reasons we came back,” he said.
Barnes said the area near the trucks helps create a sense of safety.
“It seems like it’s more of a tight-knit community where everybody has each other’s back, even the people that come and visit the trucks,” he said. “It’s not really a bad place.”
New food truck policy
The new rule, approved by the Common Council on April 21, will change requirements for food truck owners in type 1, or time-limited, zones.
There are only two time-limited zones in Milwaukee, one downtown and the other near Burnham Park. Trucks in the downtown zone will have to close by 10 p.m. and those at Burnham Park will close by 11 p.m. beginning on May 9.
The current closing time for food trucks in those two zones is 1 a.m. The requirement that mobile food businesses not exceed six hours of operation in a 12-hour period will remain the same.
Leaders discuss changes
Ald. Robert Bauman introduced the food truck measure in reaction to late night violence downtown in his district, including a shooting that killed one man and injured two others. He said the changes are in the interest of public safety.
Ald. JoCasta Zamarripa represents the Burnham Park neighborhood in District 8 on the Common Council and helped create the time-limited food truck zones in 2023.
At the time, she said, there had been efforts to stop food trucks from operating in certain parts of the city.
Zamarripa said that while violence isn’t an issue near Burnham Park, there are consistent problems and public safety concerns.
She mentioned ongoing complaints about loitering, littering and drinking at Burnham Park and Rogers Park, which both border the area where food trucks are parked.
“In the summer hours, there was a tremendous amount of loitering and littering,” Zamarripa said. “You have to remember that this is a residential area.”
She said she’s also gotten complaints about trucks staying open past 3 a.m. and added that Burnham Park and Rogers Park both close at 10 p.m.
Zamarripa said she didn’t agree with instituting a 10 p.m. close time for both zones and worked to have it changed to 11 p.m. for Burnham Park.
“Only about a third of (the food trucks) try to stay open those exceptionally late hours,” Zamarripa said. “They were upset when I changed the close time to 1 a.m. and are upset now.”
JoAnna Bautch is executive director of VIA Community Development Corp., an organization that serves the Burnham Park neighborhood. She said VIA CDC has received consistent complaints from residents at community meetings and through its Burnham Park Traffic Safety Improvement Project.
“Neighbors have raised concerns about food trucks staying open past the current 1 a.m. closing time, customers parking illegally, blocking intersections near 33rd Street, and at times, blocking residential driveways,” Bautch said. “These situations create real safety and access challenges for the people who live there.”
She said families connected to the nearby ALBA School, 1712 S. 32nd St., have also raised concerns about trash along walking routes and other areas.
Bautch said she has received communications from food truck owners who are concerned about earlier closing hours impacting their sales.
“Our economic development director has been in communication with several operators to better understand their perspective and ensure their voices are part of the conversation,” she said.
What’s next?
Bautch said her organization’s goal is to support residents who live in the community and the small business owners who add to its vibrancy.
“We see this moment as an opportunity to strengthen relationships and find solutions that allow everyone to coexist,” she said.
A rally was held Thursday morning by food truck owners and supporters at City Hall, 200 E. Wells St. Attendees argued that city leaders were punishing food truck owners for Milwaukee’s safety concerns.
Taria Jones, who was not at the rally but frequents the food trucks near Burnham Park, said the trucks and surrounding community actually give teens and others a safe place to be.
“Not everybody likes to walk and go to parties and things like that. Some people just like to walk around to enjoy food,” she said.
Zamarripa met Wednesday with Burnham Park food truck operators about upcoming traffic-calming measures.
After that meeting ended, the owners shared ideas with her on the hours restriction. She urged them to also make their case to those living in the neighborhood.
“Talk to the neighbors and get their buy-in for a later closing time,” she said.
The owners said they planned to do so. Zamarripa said she looks forward to seeing what type of feedback they collect.
She also wants to remind residents that the trucks don’t have to shut down at 11 p.m., they just have to move somewhere else if they want to stay open later.
Operators can still sell food on other city streets until 3 a.m. on Monday through Friday and 3:30 a.m. on Saturday and Sunday, she said.
Jonathan Aguilar is a visual journalist at Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service who is supported through a partnership between CatchLight Local and Report for America.
