I recently purchased and refurbished an ice cream truck with the goal of serving affordable ice cream treats to children. For the children”s safety I made the decision not to drive through neighborhoods as it”s too easy for a child to be run over or be hurt running to the ice cream trunk. So I decided I would do my business where children congregate like parks, ball fields etc. The problem is that the cities, both Clearlake and Lakeport will not allow this for the most part. The city of Clearlake told me that I couldn”t go to Austin Park at all they only allow nonprofits. I could go to the ball fields for short periods of time. Then they tell me I had to give the police department my exact route. They were kind enough to say that it didn”t have to be time specific. This is a mobile business it would go where the children are and could change from day to day. Do they require FedEx to give them there route even though it may change daily? The city of Lakeport even went so far as to tell me that they would prefer that I not even drive the ice cream truck on the streets surrounding library park unless I was specifically going to City Hall. In my opinion these regulations are getting out of hand. The cities in the County of Lake make it so difficult for small businesses to work in their municipalities that I am now considering taking my new business to Sacramento where the rules are far less onerous than here and ice cream trucks are allowed to go to where children congregate.
The sad part is I wanted to do this business because I remember how much I enjoyed going to the ice cream truck as a child. I understand that parks with their own concession stands do not want the competition from an ice cream truck but none of the parks have concession stands. Why the cities would like to deny the children of a classic childhood treat and that adds to their safety while doing so is beyond me.
Michael Park
Hidden Valley Lake
