(SLC Mayor) Rocky Targeting Ice Cream Trucks

Deseret News ^ | January 7, 2003 | Brady Snyder

[ChemistCat]

Salt Lake Mayor Rocky Anderson worries that ice cream can be bad for children.
At least the kind that comes in ice-cream trucks. Anderson worries that the trucks expose kids to traffic hazards, drug dealers and child predators.
And so the mayor has the city's ice-cream truck vendors in the cross hairs. If the City Council goes along, he will tighten the governmental reins on an industry that pesters adults and delights kids.
Tuesday night the council gets its first look at an Anderson administration ordinance that would mandate criminal background searches and fingerprint checks for ice-cream truck drivers.
Already the mayor's plan has some early support among the council, which formed a three-member subcommittee to examine tighter restrictions on the ice-cream trade.
"As a parent, they're very annoying," City Council Chairman Dave Buhler said of the musical dairy trucks. "I'd like to just ban them, but I don't think we can do that."
Besides being annoying, ice-cream trucks, it seems, are unusually crime-ridden. In the past five years, Salt Lake police officers have responded to 70 incidents involving ice-cream trucks. Many of the calls, according to department records, concern elementary students who felt that ice-cream truck drivers were following them or watching them.
In one case, several 14-year-old girls were followed and asked where they lived and whether they wanted a ride home. In another incident, elementary students reported an ice-cream truck whose driver gives them candy and "watches" them.
One officer witnessed an ice-cream vendor selling illegal drugs from the truck. And there have been several incidents of kids running into streets after an ice-cream truck only to be hit by cars. And there are many cases when drivers have been accused of stealing a kids' money. The most notable instance happened when a mother gave her child a $100 bill to purchase a $1.25 ice cream, only to have the kid return with no change.
There have also been numerous instances of ice-cream truck drivers being robbed, sometimes at gunpoint, and one case of a hate crime being committed against a black ice-cream truck driver.
"It was enough of a concern that the administration and the council felt that for the safety and protection of our community's children — whether that's safety in terms of abuse or in terms of crossing the street — something needed to be done," Councilman Eric Jergensen said. -->
The new ordinance, if passed, calls for ice-cream truck drivers to gain special "operators licenses" similar to the special licenses taxi drivers need.
The law would also require ice-cream truck drivers to have their photographs and fingerprints taken by the police, give an employment history dating back three years and a personal history dating back five years, as well as having a criminal background check.
The ordinance would also force trucks to issue a loud noise when backing up. and have a swing-arm, similar to school buses, that would protrude whenever merchandise is being sold. The law would also require operators to pay more fees to do business in the city and limit their hours to 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. The council will discuss the ordinance Tuesday night but will likely hold off a vote until a later date.
The ice cream truck ordinance is the city's latest attempt to regulate street business within the city; two prior attempts were largely unsuccessful.
Last summer the city council battled through "Taco Wars" in an attempt to regulate the city's burgeoning taco cart industry — a war that taco cart owners eventually won by convincing the council that further regulations were a bad idea.
Then, late last year, the council explored Anderson's plan to regulate ticket scalpers — a move that was met with similar disdain (this time from scalpers instead of taco cart vendors).
e-mail: bsnyder@desnews.com

[ChemistCat]

First: nomination for stupid parent trick of the day: The most notable instance happened when a mother gave her child a $100 bill to purchase a $1.25 ice cream, only to have the kid return with no change.

Second: does any sensible person patronize these trucks anymore? In Germany we didn't because they hand-scooped the ice cream and we would see them leave their trucks to go take a leak in the bushes or against the side of a building...with no way to wash their hands. Here, we just assume it's like school bus drivers--a dream job for pedophiles. As well as a heck of an extravagant way to buy ice cream.

But I do remember the ice cream trucks of childhood, back in the days when nobody needed to talk much about WHY we don't talk to strangers....

[APBaer]

"There's trouble right here in Mormon City!
Its spelled like ice, but it's not very nice!"

[widowithfoursons]

Another innocent joy of childhood down the tubes because of a bunch of opportunists. Man, when that bell rang we were GONE. That ice cream was the best.

[Lokibob]

These are fudgecycles/popscycles type ice cream, not the scooped type.

Of all the worries that we have in Salt Lake City, Rocky should concentrate his energies on important issues. Any parent that would allow their kids to go purchase an ice cream without supervision is in serious need of parenting classes.

The ice cream lady that works my neighborhood every summer is a very nice person. I've seen her stop her truck, get out of it and help kids cross the street.

I guess I don't see any problem with liscensening these folks, just think government needs to get their noses out of our business.

[RoughDobermann]

[RoughDobermann]

I WILL have your ice cream!

[tracer]

This is a poorly disguised attempt to increase the market for greeen Jello in Utah.... 8~)

[Raymond Hendrix]

Another serious problem that requires government intervention for our own good. Thanks big brother!

[cajun-jack]

the trucks are licensed here mainly because the city and parish don't want to miss out on their "treat" (taxes). I don't know if they do background checks or not, but i don't understand why any parent would not walk their child to the curb.

My kids (when they were small) and now my grandkids can hear that dreadful music before my dogs can and they have to come ask for money to buy it with. I have even been known, on occassion, when we couldn't get the money from the house quickly enough, to put the grandkids in the truck and drive a few blocks until we caught up with the truck and then let them buy. Usually, we have a couple of different flavors in the freezer, but somehow, it just isn't as good and the same thing at twice the price you buy at the supermarket.

I think, mainly it is just the smile on a 5 year old's face when he gets to "order his own kind" and pay for it himself. I love to see that little boy smile like that and now if only i could figure out someway to make his grandma just half that happy for $1.50, i would never die or else i would die a happy man!!! lol

[Lokibob]

"In Germany we didn't because they hand-scooped the ice cream and we would see them leave their trucks to go take a leak in the bushes or against the side of a building...with no way to wash their hands."

 

Go into any McDonald's in the country (and a vast majority of restraunts) and check the way the door in the mens room opens.  INWARD!!!.  Here we are, in a fast food joint, with little boys peeing, not washing their hands, and opening the bathroom door.  And, of course, we eat the hamburgers and french fries with our hands.  Just washing your hands doesn't help, because you have to open that door.  To make matters worse, there arn't any paper towels that you could use to open the door.  Just the blower type hand dryer. 

 

I'm not paranoid, just annoyed. 

 

 

[FreedomPoster]

LOL - I thought I was the only one who tried to figure out how to open that door by grabbing the handle in odd places others rarely touch.

Love it when the ice cream man comes to our community pool in the summer. This is nonsense, the sign of a government with too much money to spend, if they have time to worry about stuff like this.

[Old Professer]

Here we are, in a fast food joint, with little boys peeing, not washing their hands, and opening the bathroom door. And, of course, we eat the hamburgers and french fries with our hands. Just washing your hands doesn't help, because you have to open that door. To make matters worse, there arn't any paper towels that you could use to open the door. Just the blower type hand dryer.

I'm not paranoid, just annoyed.