CB1 Soured on Fast Food Trucks in South Street Seaport

Food trucks parked along Fulton Street in the South Street Seaport are the source of complaints by Community Board 1, but popular among customers. Photo: Carl Glassman/Tribeca Trib

Calling them an eyesore, noisy and a hindrance to foot traffic, Community Board 1 is pushing for the removal of the food trucks that arrived at the South Street Seaport over the Memorial Day weekend.

With 35 members in favor, the board passed a resolution at its May general meeting recommending that the trucks leave their post along the cobblestone area on Fulton Street, at Pearl and Water streets.

Seaport committee member Jason Friedman argued that the trucks make it increasingly difficult to get around that cobblestone section, where a large construction site has long occupied the middle of the pathway.

“It’s blocking every space,” Friedman said. “It’s not pedestrian-friendly. It doesn’t make sense.”

During the meeting’s public session, two members of Save Our Seaport, the group leading the fight against Hughes Corp.’s plans for the district, also voiced their opposition to the trucks.

“On Sunday, I thought I would go down and visit the museum’s ships at Pier 16,” said David Sheldon, an organizer of the group. “To do so, I had to first pass a barricade of food trucks and a construction site, followed by another gauntlet of merchandising kiosks, followed by a wall-to-wall bar.”

“It’s a cheapening of our neighborhood, said Bridget Schuy, a local real estate agent and resident. “It’s loud, it’s cluttering the plaza. Not only has Howard Hughes put those [pop-up shop] containers which are taking away public space to begin with, but now they have loud food trucks.”

The trucks’ co-owners, Telly Hatzigeorgiou and Bill Zafiros, mentioned the mobile eateries as a sidenote when they came before the board’s Seaport committee earlier in May, requesting a liquor license for three other food-and-drink establishments they opened Memorial Day weekend at the Seaport: Ambrose Hall, Ambrose Beer Garden and Ambrose Surf Club. (The food trucks were not under consideration for liquor licenses.)

At the general meeting a week later, some CB 1 members said this was not fair notice.

“It is outrageous that we’ve been in discussion with Howard Hughes over all their projects, and for them to do this to us without consultation is just appalling,” said John Fratta, the chair of the Seaport committee, who introduced the resolution against the trucks.

At a March Seaport committee meeting, Phillip St. Pierre, the general manager of the Seaport for the Howard Hughes Corporation, introduced the food trucks, calling them a “curated food truck experience” similar to that of Austin’s Rainey Street. He said the trucks will replace SmorgasBar, last summer’s outdoor food market on Front Street that will not return because of construction in the area. He did not ask for the board’s approval, mention exactly where the trucks would be located, or when they would arrive.

But he did answer some questions from committee members who wondered whether the trucks would create undue competition with the Seaport’s brick-and-mortar eateries.

“When you don’t have enough stores to bring in big crowds, big crowds don’t come,” St. Pierre responded. “Right now, that’s kind of where we’re at. So when we have critical mass, more people come. When more people come, there’s more customers to disperse. That’s the whole theory behind it.”

The mobile eateries, expected to remain at the Seaport through September, include The Mac Truck, known for its mac and cheese, the Milk Truck, specializing in grilled cheese, two Philly cheesesteak trucks, the Moo Shu Grill, a souvlaki truck and a Lebanese food truck, among others. Six to eight trucks are parked at the Seaport each day and between the two rows of trucks are tables for dining or just sitting.

“I think it’s great,” said Ardeni Carmeli, who was sharing macaroni and cheese with Stephane Abitbol. “[The trucks] are all so unique and quick and have high quality food.”

“And it’s fun,” Abitbol added. “It’s a good thing to come and do on a weekend.  I think it's cool.”

The vendors told the Trib that they don’t understand the board’s concerns, contending that the trucks have been a positive addition to the Seaport.

“To me, honestly, food trucks bring attention,” said Simon Sassin, the manager of the Toum Lebanese food truck. “It’s like a food court in the open air. It brings people in, choices of different cuisines, different food.”

“There isn’t a whole lot of foot traffic on the Seaport, you know what I mean?” added Altai Chiang, the manager of the Moo Shu Grill food truck. “We have a lot of people who live down here and come down here and say, ‘Oh my God, this is great because we have no food options.”

In a statement, Jeremy Soffin, a Hughes Corp. spokesman, expressed a similar view.

“Creating vibrancy at the Seaport is a priority for HHC, we had almost 25,000 people attend free movie nights last year and this year we hope will be bigger and attract more business to the entire District,” he wrote.  “More foot traffic means more business for everybody and our food trucks offer flavors from a diversity of cuisines.”

The owners, Hatzigeorgiou and Zafiros, did not respond to requests for comment.