Hello everyone,

Drexel told us to go to City Council, so we did. We were able to get ahold of Councilwoman Jamie Gauthier, who is our District 3 Representative - and guess what she said? It's selective enforcement. 

"Drexel is choosing to enforce the law in this way and I think they should listen to their food truck community as a vital part of our small business community and they should also listen to their students. We should have a city that is welcoming to food trucks because food trucks help enhance Philadelphia’s economy and offerings, I was somewhat dismayed that they were telling the student community this was because of something that I did. I would never be a part of any movement to push food trucks off of the campus and in fact I would hope that Drexel would reverse course on this but if they don’t, I’m going to be exploring legislative options to make sure we continue to welcome food trucks to West Philadelphia." - Fox29 Philadelphia Interview

Additionally, Fox29 Reached out to Philadelphia's Department of Licensing and Inspections, who stated "Drexel University is performing the enforcement, so they would be the appropriate contact."

Additionally, I have some unfortunate news - Pete's, Happy Sunshine, Happy Star, and other trucks have received $150 tickets for parking overnight by Drexel PD AT MIDNIGHT. Enforcement has already begun. These businesses cannot sustain the cost of these ticketing violations, and have nowhere else to go. 

So, it looks like we can do this the easy way or the hard way. City Council wants you to listen to the students - so listen to the students. Stop the selective enforcement on trucks that have been here for decades. 

We, the students, are demanding that Drexel put out a public statement telling us if they're either going to stop the selective enforcement of food truck parking on campus, or if they're standing their ground. We can end this now, or go down a long road of amending city code. This will not end even if you send our food trucks home. 

The ball is in your court, Drexel. If we do not get a response by EOD Saturday, April 5th, we will look into further options for organizing a larger and more disruptive community response. 

In the meantime, flood all the food trucks today so they can help recuperate the costs of the parking tickets. We'll be waiting on a University response in the meantime.