The Dearborn Heights City Council denied temporary food truck /tent/card license applications to the four applicants at its May 14 meeting in a 3-2 vote, citing the need for more information and concerns about the impact on brick-and-mortar restaurants, which pay property taxes and have higher overhead.
Lack of information, impact on brick-and-mortar restaurants cited
By SUE SUCHYTA
Times-Herald Newspapers
HEIGHTS – The City Council denied four vendor temporary food truck/tent/cart licenses May 14 by a 3-2 vote, citing incomplete information and the negative impact on brick-and-mortar restaurants.
Voting to deny were Councilmembers Hassan Saab, Tom Wencel and Robert Constan, with Mo Baydoun and Nancy Bryer voting to approve. Hassan Ahmad and Denise Malinowski-Maxwell were not present at the meeting.
The licenses may be revisited at an upcoming council meeting, when the attendance of the missing council members could change the outcome.
The impacted food trucks were: Samer Al-Khafaji’s Burgeratti, 6609 Telegraph; Haitham Jawad’s Hanky Panky Donuts, 6609 Telegraph; Saeed Alabdrabalnabi’s Chicken Cheese, 27349 W. Warren; and Hasan Harb’s Blazin Hot Wings, 20125 Ann Arbor Trail.
Those voting to deny the approval cited incomplete information and the possible negative impact on brick-and-mortar restaurants in the city, who pay property taxes and have higher overhead.
Those in favor spoke enthusiastically about the products available at the food trucks and their positive impact on the community.