SAN ANTONIO – The City of San Antonio announced Tuesday that after a successful pilot program, the downtown mobile food truck vending program is here to stay.
The news was celebrated by vendors and customers at the monthly Tuesday night event at Travis Park.
"I think it's wonderful and it's a great idea," said Joan Korte who lives downtown. "Anything that will bring people together and have a good time."
"We're really excited about it," added Arturo Menchaca of Wheelie Gourmet, which specializes in Moroccan street food. "Downtown operations did a really good job of coordinating everything and making sure that it was well organized and well thought out."
Jim Mery, interim director of downtown operations, said the city plans to add a fourth site to the weekday lunch rotation at Madison Square Park near Baptist Medical Center. He said they are also looking into possibly adding a monthly Friday night event at the park.
The new rotation will have trucks at Main Plaza on Mondays and Thursdays; Travis Park on Tuesdays; Weston Center on Soledad on Wednesdays ;and Madison Square Park on Fridays from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. They will still have a monthly Tuesday night event at Travis Park.
"There's not really much down here," said Sara Lozano of Cheesy Jane's truck. "People feel like they have to stay inside because they don't want to walk to get something to it. It's a very good thing about what we're doing."
The city also listened to public input to make its decision. Mery said many customers said they walked between one to three blocks when their favorite trucks were nearby.
"This is exactly what, as a local...I want and I know through conversations like on social media, we've talked about this a lot," said Kristi Pena.
Vendors who are interested in selling their food in the downtown area have the opportunity to participate by submitting a complete application and fulfilling other requirements.
Applications are available at the Downtown Operations Department located at 400 N. St. Mary's St., Suite 100, Monday through Friday.
They can also be easily accessed online.
Applications are being accepted from Dec. 1, 2012 through Nov. 30, 2013.
For additional information regarding the Downtown Mobile Food Truck Vending Program, contact the Downtown Operations Department at 210-207-3677.
For a list of recent stories by Charles Gonzalez, click here.