Nobody’s yet had a half-eaten cheeseburger flung at his head, but a major food fight is brewing downtown.The city’s downtown restaurants, faced with declining sales in a tough economy, are begging City Hall to help them by ousting a growing number of food vending carts and trucks from North Main Street.
“It looks like Chinatown out there,” said John Spaniotis, an owner of Center Restaurant and Pizza. “They take my business every day.”
“It’s just a no-brainer,” said Roberta Costanti, a co-owner of Blondie’s Grill and Patio. She told city leaders this week “to get rid of these vendors.” Click here for the story.
*******
Copyright 2010. All rights reserved.
Contact Steve Collins at scollins@bristolpress.com
35 comments:
Sounds to me they are afraid of a little healthy competition. If that is the case then maybe the City should play favorites in all areas. Hey, lets stop accepting bids on project and just take whomever feels they belong. Give me a break and quit crying you babies! Now I certainly won't go eat at either place! Center Pizza has old, lousy, overpriced food....your staff is lackluster to say the least and the atmosphere sucks.When I did go to your place, the workers sat around pouting because business wasn't good enough. Well welcome to the real world folks. THATS the reasons why I don't go there anymore...not because there are some vendors on the street! So Quit passing the blame and fix your business or quit crying. Blondies...well all I know is there is no where to park and it looks too small and overcrowded so I don't even bother to stop. You folks would be better off in a truck to be quite honest....in my humble opinion of course. Not to mention, why the hell would I want to pay $2 for soda's and then tip the waitress when i can serve myself and get a soda for $1. When you are feeding a family, the vendor is way more economical. Go buy your own carts and compete if you don't like it....thats how I see it.
all street vending should be banned from Memorial blvd to Rt 6..Once the downtown is revamped they will not want those vendors there anyways.
roach coaches rule !
waz the problem?
The food these guy serve is questionable. Do they maintain,beyond a permit, the maintain the same sanitary standards indoor eating establishments do? Hardly, not mention they look hoorible in the center of our city. They take up parking spaces on North Main street which makes it a little more difficult for the person who has business in City Hall or the post office.
Get rid of these tomain wagons!
The Bristol town council does nothing to help its tax payers. Not enough votes or contributions.
Maybe they could set up on Central ST. Alot of traffic by tom obriens house. THE GUY WHO RENTS HIS BOTTOM FLOOR TO A BUISNESS. Is this legal to block the road. Or is Obrien above the law. Whats your take steve.
Get rid of the court house. PROBLEMS SOLVED.
what? i hope these resturans lawyers charge them by the hour
John Spaniotis' wife and their staff are rude and unfriendly. It's a travesty that the city gave them money.
People are looking at costs. If its cheaper to eat from a cart than the resturant they will choose the cart. I don't think it matters if they are there or not - people find the cheap eats.
Can't ban vendors no matter how much these resturants would like.
Carts should have to pay taxes like the rest of us.
Center Pizza got 50,000 from the city to move in. Good job Jonithan now all the compititons has to leave.
Tom Obrien will rent them space on his front lawn. He has as many people as down town has.
Steve we get a story about city hall doesnt talk about some cuts or whats happening with taxes.
Eversee the bumb that hangs around next to the hot dog cart. Handling the food blowing smoke all over the food. He hasnt taking a shower in weeks smells to beat hell. This is sanitary.
After watching the news clip on Channel 3 about the food vendors in Bristol, I feel compelled to write. There are only a few restaurants on North Main St. and it seems that only one is complaining. The reason is, the other Blondie's, is still closed. Why did the City of Bristol mainly, Jonathan Rosenthal, give Blondie's a grant so they can only open 3-4 months a year. Is there any violation of contract involved in this? The vendors on North Main are there, 5-6 days a week in all kinds of weather. They deserve the right to make a living just like anyone else who is willing to put the effort in. Apparently Blondie's does not need the business if they choose to close for the entire winter. The city of Bristol should concentrate on developing the baron desert land they call Depot Square instead of trying to put hard working people who are trying to feed their families out of business.
WHAT HAPPEN TO BAKERY ON MAIN ST. The town gave money and its a consignment store . Good job guys.
The carts pay taxes. Personal property, income and motor vehicle taxes. Also Blondies is OK. They serve unique hot dogs, hamburgs fries and that sort of thing by the way. The recipients of these grants should respect the fact that they got free money and try to improve themselves. So far I'm not very impressed (although the ladies at Blondies are very nice unlike the jerks at Center Pizza. I agree with anonwestconndumbass that these carts shouldn't be punished, but there is a question whether the carts are appropriate for North Main Street (with all this "redevelopment"). The answer in NO...and good-bye.
This should rate no higher than number 17 on the city's priority list!
Addressing the BDA issue certainly is more critical, and that is somethat Ward CAN impact!
2:36 - i challenge you to name and prioritize the first 16, minus any references to your political preferences for people presently in office - show us that you have an idea of the community needs and are not just blowing political smoke.
Kens Grill has been accross the street from Bristol Post Office for 11 years. He has not made complaints about any of the nearby eateries in that span of time. If they do not want the food vendors on the street to also make an honest living,then why did they build knowing right well that there were vendors there. Leave the vendors alone and move your own business if you are not satisfied with your own sales and leave others alone. Everyone is going through hard times right now so why pick on the little guy all of the time. I say move if you don't like it!!!
Cant get rid of carts thats were the chiefbrings his dates for lunch. Seen fergie there a few times.
1:22 - bet you wouldn't be so flippant and irresponsible if you had to woman/man-up for your accusatory statements. I'd ask you to try it but your "lack of conscience" would most likely give you the excuse to prevent you from doing so - I just want everyone else on this blog to know what a "scum-bag" that you are.
Low Life if the truth hurts dont read the blog. Your the scum baq covering up for these people.You probably think behavior by these people is ok.Remember when you shit in public the tax payers are going to make you clean it up.
8:14 low life if these people are your friends you cant be to proud of there actions. Remember we see whats going on and and several charges have been brought against one of them. When a person like these people mess in your not going to be happy.
7:24
Sorry I didn’t get back to you sooner. Some places do not allow the use of the computers for non-company business. Items are basically in order of importance.
Current budget
On-going financial situation (it isn’t going to get better soon)
Schools, improve quality
Schools, building of.
Mall Site
Roads
Economic Development, overall
Proliferation of Section 8 Housing
S.E. Business Park
Federal Hill
West End
Water problems, potential Flooding
Evaluations
Fire House (s) renovations, currently stalled.
Enforcement of Zoning issues, Blight.
Community Theater
Farmington Ave
Drug Use, City Wide
I know that some of these are underway, all have costs associated. But, these are items of much more importance than Hot Dog Carts!
1:22
Are you upset because of Fergie or because of the Chief being with Fergie? stop stalking people. Get a job or better yet, get a life...looser
7:02 - 7:24 pm doesn't sound like a time for the poster to be in the workplace, unless you know who the poster is - could it be you?
"Center Pizza got 50,000 from the city to move in. Good job Jonithan now all the compititons has to leave."
Why are you blaming Rosenthal? The City Council had to pay them to vacate Centre Mall, and they wisely tapped this pool of money that was going unspent.
You must be blind you dont have to stalk people who do things in the open. They want the attention. Then they laugh at us ans say you cant do anything about it. The Chief is above following ethics code.
8:13 AM, Making false accusations and allegations, or at least being too cowardly to stand up and identify yourself actually makes you the one who is "ethically challenged."
Thing is, what's the catalyst for the story? The Center Pizza owner? I agree with other posters that the staff is rude and indifferent towards customers which is why there's probably no one there for breakfast in the AM. I don't see a place for the Ice Cream Churn in the story as it is not in the same class at the vendors or full service restaurants.
I don't patronize the vendors because I like to sit down and eat my lunch. Blondies is great, and the Riverside Diner and Tortoise and the Hare are good also. Supernatural is okay. But I've had only slow, slow service at Center Pizza. The owners there should pay more attention to what is going on in their restaurant, as opposed to across the street.
Post a Comment