Photo Courtesy of Wiki Commons

The City Council’s Committee on Education held a hearing today to discuss two proposed resolutions related to the Breakfast in the Classroom (BIC) program. BIC provides breakfast to children in city schools through one of two models: the hallway grab-and-go option or physical, in-classroom implementation.

(by Alissa Fleck)

One proposed resolution calls on the City’s Department of Education to support BIC in all schools, while the other calls on the State Legislature to pass legislation supporting BIC in every school in the City.

Council members and other advocates pushed for these resolutions as New York City has “the lowest school breakfast participation rate among low-income students across 26 large urban districts,” according to a statement by the Council. The City ranks last in terms of children with access to breakfast; currently less than four percent of kids in the City receive in-classroom breakfast.

Executive Director of the NYC Coalition Against Hunger Joel Berg presented these disconcerting statistics: 500,000 (1 in 4) NYC children reside in homes where breakfast is financially out of the question. The numbers are staggering.

“I understand disagreements on ideology and budget,” said Berg. “But the weight of the data here is overwhelmingly compelling.”

Berg also dispelled the powerful rumor amongst the Department of Health, Mayor Bloomberg and some community members that the BIC program would promote childhood obesity, particularly in cases where children consumed breakfast at home and at school.

“What increases obesity is skipping meals,” said Berg. “This is a hunger crisis. No studies show extra breakfast promotes obesity.”

The Department of Education continues to defer to the DOH on the program, and while BIC is strongly supported by politicians like Speaker Quinn, advocates say the DOH does not appear willing to bend on its stance.

Matthew Nolte of the Greater New York Dietetic Association said registered dietitians support BIC, and cited the importance of breakfast in its ability to positively impact a student’s focus in the classroom. Nolte also pointed to the high rate of obesity (around 20%) that currently exists among children K-8 without the program in place.

Executive Director of the Hunger Action Network of NYS Mark Dunlea said a program like BIC would get the City $50 million in federal reimbursement, but Bloomberg continues to oppose it on the purported “second breakfasting” leads to obesity argument, which Dunlea calls an urban myth.

The USDA requirement for federal reimbursement supports a breakfast which meets guidelines for health and well-roundedness, explained Berg.

Nolte followed up by pointing out the main issue is not so much “second breakfasting” as a lack of quality nutrition in the home in the first place. The BIC program would provide nutritionally-sound meals so kids would not have to depend on what’s available—or not available—at home.

Another concern presented was that advertisement of the program may actually influence parents to feed their children less. Advocates responded by pointing to the numbers; where the program has been implemented, absenteeism has decreased and test scores have increased.

Councilmember Stephen Levin, a co-sponsor who spoke in support of the proposed resolutions, said providing breakfast is crucial in reducing absenteeism in the classroom. In support, Berg pointed to a case in a Bronx school where the BIC program was implemented—systematic tardiness was reduced from fifty-five students to just five.

Responding to criticism that BIC might cause disruption in the classroom, Levin pointed out he brought breakfast to the hearing and was not “making a mess or causing disruption.”

Councilmember Brad Lander joked only hobbits can eat too many breakfasts. “This is not a public health crisis,” he said. He added we need more teacher proponents and ambassadors to back these proposals.

“This is about the real world, not the theoretical food pyramid,” said Dunlea. “The needs of children must be placed higher.”

Photo Courtesy of Wiki Commons

Despite the unappetizing nickname “street meat,” food carts are an extremely popular snack and meal option in the City. They range from basic coffee or pretzel carts to elaborate, gourmet food trucks with their own Yelp pages and faithful customers who have no qualms about waiting in line for—what could be—hours.

(by Alissa Fleck)

Now the Department of Health has proposed some new regulations for food cart vendors. The DOH claims these regulations would make current rules easier and more transparent for those who operate food carts. The implication is that many food cart vendors do not break the rules on purpose; these rules may simply be difficult to understand.

The DOH is also proposing changes to some of its rules governing mobile food vending to “improve sanitary practices and decrease the threat of foodborne illnesses.” Additionally the Department hopes the new regulations will help control the rampant black market for mobile food permits.

New regulations follow some recent complaints about food cart vendors. Many such complaints come from The 34th Street Partnership, a not-for-profit, private management company organized as a business improvement district. The Partnership called food vendor trucks an eyesore and wants the city to reduce the number in Midtown. The Partnership says food cart vendors are also “terrible citizens” who litter.

Street Vendor Project advocates for street food vendors. Attorney Matthew Shapiro, representing the Project, said fines given to food carts prevents them from making their carts look nicer. (Some of these many potential fines are listed in the food cart facts below.)

For one, the city hopes to crack down on accountability. Many food carts are not directly operated by the person holding the permit for the cart. The proposed regulations would require that person to be present during inspections.

Food cart size is also a problem—too-large carts may face a violation. The new regulations propose food trucks be limited to 10 feet long by 5 feet wide, except in the case of trucks. Storage facilities would also be required to log when every cart is brought in or leaves as dictated by the new rules.

Then there’s the black market. In 2011 the Wall Street Journal reported that a hot dog stand in the Bronx could cost $14,000 for a two-year permit. In this case the permit-holder, not the city, is charging the person who operates the stand.

According to the WSJ: “The city charges a mere $200 for most food-cart permits, which must be paid every two years when they are renewed. But it only issues 3,100 year-round permits plus an additional 1,000 seasonal permits—not enough to satisfy demand. Transferring or renting these permits to another vendor is illegal but everyone, including the city’s Health Department, acknowledges, that it happens.” There are 2080 people on the city’s waiting list for a two-year food cart permit.

According to the NY Post, food carts in NYC accumulated 2,517 general violations in 2011 by July. Despite violations, the city’s health department does not grade food carts like it does restaurants. The greatest violations it reports appear to result from uncleanliness on the part of the vendor, i.e. failing to wash one’s hands. The independently popular, fancier food trucks tend to be more sanitary.

Horror stories abound, though they must be “digested” with a grain of salt. One person whose brother fell victim to street cart uncleanliness told CBS in 2011 that his brother had to be hospitalized and they “found rat hair in his stomach.” (Perhaps “street meat” is not so far off, though this accusation would not be surprising in nearly any NYC restaurant.)

There may be some benefits to the proposed plan. According to the DOH website, “Carts or trucks that sell only pre-packaged, non-potentially hazardous foods or whole fresh fruits and vegetables could be stored in a facility other than a commissary” provided the facility meets certain regulations.

Despite this, many vendors fail to see the benefits.The Press was curious what food cart vendors had to say about these new proposed laws.

Two food cart vendors operating separate stands in Union Square had not heard anything about the proposal.

At a Rafiqi’s stand, also in Union Square, two cart workers present, neither of whom was the unit’s permit owner, had heard of the proposal:

“We’re all thinking the same thing,” said one Rafiqi’s worker who did not identify himself, of other vendors to whom he had spoken. “It’s crazy.” He said they agreed there were already too many restrictions in place.

Three vendors in the Flatiron area around lunchtime said they had not heard of the proposals either, while some of them seemed reluctant to the Press at all. One coffee cart vendor in the area said of the proposals: “It’s just talk.” He seemed to believe new regulations would not apply to his coffee cart.

Two vendors in what would be, by new regulations, an oversized vehicle said their boss was not there when asked about the regulations, and then that they had not heard of these regulations either.

There will be a public forum on July 19 to address the new proposal.

In 2007, New York Magazine released some interesting facts on these food carts:

-Black-market rental at the time was $3,000 a year

-The most common violation was “standing too far from the curb” (more than eighteen inches). Other violations included vending within twenty feet of a building entrance, vending at a bus stop, not offering a customer a receipt and resting food on wooden surfaces. 

-A typical vendor paid $433 a year in fines, with New York courts dealing with 59,000 vending cases every year 

-Carts are stored in garages at night, with monthly rent between $250 and $300 (many of these garages have been shut down by the Health Department) 

-Average daily revenue for a food cart was $200 to $300 

-Average annual take was $7,500 to $14,000

-The most profitable food cart item was coffee, the least profitable being fruit 

-There are no official standards regarding the quality of meat or other products

Find out more here.

More information on proposed food cart regulations can be found here.