Our National Mall is a national shame

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I now hate going to the mall because of the noisy, smelly food trucks.

What are our politicians thinking??? The world is moving forward to clean vehicles and we are going back 100 years!! What an embarrassment!! This is sloppy, careless and harmful policy, if ever there was any thinking behind it.

I wonder what tourists from abroad may think.

I visited Paris and Rome over the past few months. The amount of graffiti and trash in both cities made me sick. By comparison, the US looks pretty darn clean and well-kept. And I have no doubt tourists notice the difference.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I now hate going to the mall because of the noisy, smelly food trucks.

What are our politicians thinking??? The world is moving forward to clean vehicles and we are going back 100 years!! What an embarrassment!! This is sloppy, careless and harmful policy, if ever there was any thinking behind it.

I wonder what tourists from abroad may think.

I visited Paris and Rome over the past few months. The amount of graffiti and trash in both cities made me sick. By comparison, the US looks pretty darn clean and well-kept. And I have no doubt tourists notice the difference.

You’re lucky that you visited some nice cities. 75% of Florence is an absolute dump.

[Anonymous]

You people have nothing else to complain about, OP the trucks are fine.

They add to the city vibe.

Everything does not need to be regulated.

[Anonymous]

I go to the mall regularly to run. I don't love the trucks, but seems like a weird response. Also, if you are there with kids, they are sometimes helpful.

[Anonymous]

I used to not care at all about this until I stated seeing pictures of food trucks parked on pedestrian paths. Everyone always needs to take things too far.

[Anonymous]

I am disgusted and ashamed by the amount of these ice cream/bubble tea trucks. There are hundreds that are exactly the same, all with diesel engines on and extremely loud. It makes being outside on the mall a hassle.

[Anonymous]

The trucks have been there for many decades, although there are many more now. Probably dating as far back as the 1976 Bicentennial celebrations. They used to be mostly hot dog /egg roll / ice cream joints. But now they are expanding into other cuisines.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The trucks have been there for many decades, although there are many more now. Probably dating as far back as the 1976 Bicentennial celebrations. They used to be mostly hot dog /egg roll / ice cream joints. But now they are expanding into other cuisines.

Yup. Had great memories eating a hot dog buying a switchblade comb down on the Mall as a kid.

[Anonymous]

Trucks are an ugly sight, environmentally unfriendly, food is bad and expensive, service non-existent. Clean it up and make an affordable food court.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I hate those stupid trucks. I would be fine with a few good ones (with no music!) but it's out of control. I saw that the Park Police recently cracked down and towed a bunch but they need to do it more often.

The need to setup a regulatory structure for the trucks - code of conduct, permitting, food safety, truck safety regs (fyi - food trucks catch on fire A LOT), etc.

The problem is that NPS actually has food service installations on the mall (run by a contractor) and they give concessioner a monopoly on food sales. So the Feds can't actually set up a regulatory system for the food trucks.

It's maddening.

Most of the trucks don’t even have DC tags. I could see supporting people from the District operating food trucks but definitely not people from Maryland or Virginia.

Sorry, DC belongs to the American people, not just DC residents. If you don’t like it, move to an actual state, not the place that was specifically created to exist as the seat of the federal government.

Yes it belongs to whole nation, however taxes should go to local government shouldering the management and maintenance.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I now hate going to the mall because of the noisy, smelly food trucks.

What are our politicians thinking??? The world is moving forward to clean vehicles and we are going back 100 years!! What an embarrassment!! This is sloppy, careless and harmful policy, if ever there was any thinking behind it.

I wonder what tourists from abroad may think.

I visited Paris and Rome over the past few months. The amount of graffiti and trash in both cities made me sick. By comparison, the US looks pretty darn clean and well-kept. And I have no doubt tourists notice the difference.

Have you visited Rock Creek Park lately? The pervasive graffiti is disheartening and disgusting.

[Anonymous]

Smell is not from the food trucks, it is smell of weed from all the DC potheads.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Smell is not from the food trucks, it is smell of weed from all the DC potheads.

You have a point, NYC has food trucks all over too, but there are other options. And has weed trucks.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Why not use the mall as a temporary shelter for migrants and the unhoused?

Why not use Mexico as a permanent shelter for the migrants.

[Anonymous]

I truly hate the ones on 17th street. They take up half the sidewalk. This weekend I had to run in the middle of the street and hope not to be run over by the motorcades because so much of the sidewalk was taken up by those thieving scammers.