Letter to Robert Vogel, Superintendent of National Mall and Memorial Parks, National Park Service - Lottery for Food Vendors on National Mall

Letter

October 29, 2014

Robert Vogel

Superintendent

National Mall & Memorial Parks

National Park Service

900 Ohio Drive SW

Washington, DC 20024

Dear Superintendent Vogel,

I very much appreciate the work that the National Park Service (NPS) is doing to make the National Mall a more beautiful space.

I am following up on our National Mall Roundtable last month, where you were kind enough to participate. We suggested you consider a greater variety of food options for visitors, including a system allowing the rich array of food truck vendors to participate. Currently, the Mall has only one food concessionaire on the Mall. You agreed to consider other food options when the agreement with the current concessionaire ends in 2015. Allowing a limited number of regulated food trucks on the Mall or lunch fare brought from local restaurants would add immeasurably to the Mall experience.

The District of Columbia has always utilized a lottery system for stationary food and merchandise operators stationed on 74 locations on streets running parallel to the Mall. Beginning this month, the D.C. Department of Consumer and Regulatory Affairs (DCRA) will take over the lottery from the Metropolitan Police Department, and DCRA has decided to open up the lottery system to mobile food vendors. I ask that you consider a similar lottery system for food vendors, particularly food trucks, to operate on the Mall, providing the diversity in food options that we discussed at the roundtable.

Thank you again for your very helpful participation in our roundtable. I ask that you give full and fair consideration to this request consistent with applicable laws, rules, and regulations. Thank you for your consideration.

Sincerely,

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