Sausage vendor Steve Smith’s food truck is still in impound, but a new investor has stepped in to help the businessman, who said he’s broke.
Smith’s mobile food truck — Long Dick’s Sausage Emporium — was towed from its New Gower Street location by the city last week, the latest chapter in a bureaucratic battle between Smith and city hall that dates back to before he opened for business in the spring.
“I have entered into a deal with a guy who wants to expand the merchandising end of this, recognizing that it’s a brand here. We were moving that way anyway, so he’s helping me out and is going to save my bacon,” said Smith Thursday.
“The city had us beat, no money left in the coffers, nowhere to turn, and then on top of that, (they) impound the vehicle.”
The unnamed investor will help Smith produce items like shirts and aprons, and the funding boost should help him get his truck operational again, he said.
“I’m well over two months in the hole with no revenue as a result of nothing else other than the city’s interference,” he said.
City officials say Smith’s truck was towed because he refused to move it to allow for snowclearing.
Smith says he couldn’t do it without help after city plows boxed his truck in with a ridge of snow that froze into ice.
Mayor Dennis O’Keefe and David Blackmore, the city’s director of building and property management, said the heavy January snowfall didn’t prevent downtown’s other food trucks from making way
for plows, and that, far from interfering with Smith, the city has spent more time working with Smith to help him than business owners typically get.
Smith said Thursday he’s still moving ahead with legal action against the city, but without an investor coming forward, he would have been long out of business before any kind of settlement or decision would be reached.
dmaceachern@thetelegram.com
Twitter: TelegramDaniel
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No in fact that's the issue you have to pay your full years lease for the spot up front. In addition to the power system is costing about $9,000 which isn't required by by-law or electrical code. I appreciate anyone with a comment or opinion but you should be informed if you are going to comment. Just an opinion. I mentioned that we were 2 months in the hole. This isn't becasuse it wasn't a good business it's because the city has prevented us from opening. I can't believe some people are content to let municipal government have so much uncontested power in this town.