ARLINGTON, Va. -
David Pena left a job as a sous chef to pursue the dream of running his own Mexican food truck. It's called La Tingueria. He's been at it just three days.
"We got two different warnings," he says. "One warning right there at that location and another down the street."
Warnings about parking are the buzz among food truck operators in Arlington County. Some truck operators say they have been cited for loitering.
Arlington's current vending regulations have been in place since 2008. They say that a food truck can only stay parked in a particular spot for one hour.
"Once you serve your first meal, you have an hour and then you have to move," says Doug Maheu, who is also known as Doug the Food Dude. "It's a safety issue. There's a customer issue - if you have a line of people when that hour is up."
He blames pressure coming from brick and mortar restaurants.
"There are obviously some competing businesses that would like to see us go away," says Maheu.
But Jill Griffin of Arlington County Economic Development says nothing has changed. She says there is an ongoing dialogue about ways to improve the ordinance and that dialogue includes vendors.
Online:
Guidelines for Vendors In Arlington County
