Business owners speak out after restrictions set for Short North food carts

COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) -- Columbus leaders are cracking down on violence in the Short North by ordering food carts to shut down at midnight. However, businesses owners told NBC4 they feel punished when they aren't the problem.

Adam Wallace, the owner of Eden’s Food Truck and Feed the Need, said this could be detrimental for business. Late night hours are their livelihoods, he said, and business is already taking a hit from the new rules in the Short North.

"You buy all this product, all this supplies and then 36 hours notice you can’t work,” Wallace said.

Wallace feels like he and other food cart owners are taking the blame for something they aren’t a part of.

"We want to have a talking point that we are trying to keep you safe when it is really the food vendors who have been able to say hey we saw this we are not intoxicated we are fully licensed we’ve had criminal background checks,” Wallace said.

A midnight shutdown on weekends will lose him anywhere from $1,000 to $1,500 each night from each cart. He has also already had to tell workers they are out of a job.

"You've taken away the late night, you’ve taken away the business,” Wallace said.

The new food truck hours in the Short North start Friday and are in place through Sunday. City leaders are also asking businesses in the Short North to shut down at midnight.

Columbus police are also not allowing any parking on High Street from 5th Ave to Goodale Street from 10 p.m. to 7 a.m. On Friday, police set up security cameras along High Street.

"We didn't get any information, no heads up, they were going to do something like this,” Wallace said.

This announcement comes after months of controversy during the winter. Wallace said the city council was trying to change shutdown time to 1 a.m. instead of 3 a.m. They compromised at 2:30.

However, now Wallace said they are going back on their word. NBC4 spoke with Columbus City Council president Shannon Hardin at Thursday's news conference about the issue.

“We do not intend on the executive order nor the codification of it to stay in place forever,” Hardin said. “We believe that removing the food carts at the same time as the businesses are closing makes sense to stop that loitering and the activity afterwards that happens sometimes after let out.”

Wallace said he is a part of the mobile food vending board in Columbus. He said they were not alerted of any input meetings held by the mayor’s office and the Short North Alliance.