Updated: Dec. 2, 2013 at 12:52 p.m.
Lunch on H Street could look different this winter, as D.C’s 250 food trucks are forced to park in city-selected spots for the first time Monday.
Starting this week, food truck owners can only park in locations awarded to them in the city’s $25 monthly raffle – or pay parking meter fees and stay 200 feet away from other food trucks.
Trucks can park in those assigned spots for four hours every weekday.
Tasty Kabob operator Moustafa Shokry said the lottery system unfairly limits food trucks.
“Nobody likes it,” Shokry said. “It’s supposed to be first-come, first-serve.”
Shokry said he entered the lottery hoping to nab a spot for one of his trucks at Metro Center or L’Enfant Plaza, but didn’t get a spot and returned to H Street, where Tasty Kabob has parked for three years.
“There are so many trucks that by the time you go to enter, it’s already full. It’s ridiculous,” Shokry said. “There’s no guarantee, that’s the problem.”
Ernestine Barksdale, who works at the truck Capital Chicken and Waffles, said she is “just going with the flow,” as the lottery gets underway.
“It’s the first day so we haven’t really seen any results yet. We’re hoping it will make it easier to park, rather than the hustle and bustle of rushing to park,” Barksdale said.
The lottery system marks the end of a long battle between city legislators and food truck vendors, who pushed back against the proposed regulations in April. The D.C. Council unanimously supported the new system in June.