http://www.forbes.com/sites/instituteforjustice/2014/07/31/dog-days-documentary-profiles-d-c-s-dogged-street-vendors/
7/31/2014 _at_ 10:57AM 297 views 'Dog Days' Documentary Profiles D.C.'s Dogged
Street Vendors
[image: Nick Sibilla] <
http://blogs.forbes.com/people/nicksibilla/>Nick
Sibilla <
http://blogs.forbes.com/people/nicksibilla/> , Contributor
Like the city's august memorials, the humble hot dog cart is practically
a Washington, D.C. institution. These ubiquitous carts play a starring role
in *Dog Days* <
http://www.dogdaysthemovie.com/>, a new documentary about
street vending in the nation's capital.
Shot over four years, the film focuses on the travails of two entrepreneurs
in the nation's capital. Siyone is an Eritrean refugee and single mother
of four who has run a hot dog cart for over two decades to support her
family. After losing his job, Coite decides to go into the street vending
business, despite lacking any cooking experience. Coite wants to expand
what these hot dog carts can sell.
But he's stifled by bureaucracy. For about 15 years, a moratorium had been
in effect for new sidewalk vending licenses in the city. There are 700
fewer hot dog vendors than there were in 1998, when the cap was first
enacted. In addition, their owners are required by law to store their carts
in a depot overnight.
<
http://www.dogdaysthemovie.com/press_kit/DogDays_Poster_web.jpg>
If they buy enough supplies at these warehouses (which sell hot dogs, chips
and soda in bulk), the vendors receive a discount. Since vendors' profit
margins are already low, it's an offer they can't refuse. So as Coite
explains early in the movie, "almost every vendor sells the exact same
thing." In a competitive industry, that is a difficult way to thrive.
Undaunted, Coite starts cooking Jamaican jerk chicken wraps to supply hot
dog carts. Siyone becomes his very first customer. As the two try to break
out, they have to deal with red tape, the booming food truck scene and
brick-and-mortar restaurants that aren't exactly fans of the competition.
The movie itself is also an underdog. Directors Laura Waters Hinson and
Kasey Kirby poured over $200,000 of their own money into the project,
before a successful Kickstarter campaign and partnership with the Moving
Picture Institute brought their labor of love to life.
*Dog Days* shines when it spotlights the people behind the carts. It's also
fun to see D.C.'s more well known food trucks like Red Hook Lobster Pound
and TaKorean make cameo appearances. In addition to Siyone and Coite, other
street entrepreneurs appear briefly in the film to share their stories.
Notably, one vendor emigrated from Nigeria and, by hawking hot dogs, was
able to send her kids to college.
In between the personal struggles of these street entrepreneurs, *Dog
Days* delves
into the political sausage making behind the city's drawn-out attempts to
regulate vending. The restaurant industry was pitted against groups like
the DMV Food Truck Association and the Institute for Justice (IJ). Last
year, a compromise was reached on food truck regulations and it seems to be
working pretty well for the stakeholders involved. The compromise also
lifted the moratorium on new licenses for hot dog carts, letting consumers
enjoy even more street food.
Amidst that years-long regulatory battle royal, those in favor of cracking
down on vendors often argued food trucks and hot dog carts were unclean and
unsafe. But in a new report, *Street Eats, Safe Eats*, IJ debunks the myth.
The Institute poured over almost 9,000 inspections the city's health
department conducted on food trucks, carts, restaurants and other food
establishments in 2011 and 2012. On average, mobile vendors actually had
far fewer health and safety violations than stationary places to eat,
meaning they're just as safe as their brick-and-mortar brethren.
With saner laws now in place, there's hope that better days are ahead for
the District's street-vending entrepreneurs.
http://vimeo.com/59735235
Received on Sat Aug 02 2014 - 12:39:19 EDT
