Vendors who don’t win a prime spot would be allowed to use other,

less busy spots.
By Scott Taylor
Staff Writer

LEWISTON – Hot dog vendors and other food cart operators would compete for prime corners in a yearly lottery, according to a proposed city policy.

Councilors agreed to discuss creating the corner lottery for the city’s handful of corner food vendors, as well as increasing costs of licenses and requiring liability insurance.

Assistant City Manager Phil Nadeau said one vendor approached the city this summer and asked to have certain corners granted to certain vendors perpetually.

“But we knew that the entire policy was due for a review,” Nadeau said.

The proposed policy would set up a yearly lottery for prime spots, such as the corner of Pine and Park streets. Vendors who don’t win a prime spot would be allowed to use other, less busy spots in the city on a first come, first served basis.

The license fee is currently set at $75. The standard roaming vendor license would increase to $175 in the new policy and vendors with designated corners would pay $275 for that privilege.

“We think that there is a certain value in locking up a given corner,” Nadeau said.

The new policy would also require vendors to have liability insurance. The current code doesn’t.

Nadeau said the city issues 17 roaming food licenses each year, but those include hot dog carts and ice cream trucks. Hot dog cart vendor Steve Berry, who operated a cart near F.X. Marcotte this summer, said he knows of three full-time hot dog vendors in Lewiston.

staylor@sunjournal.com

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