The City of Madison is launching a “Carts in Park” vending pilot program to provide daily food cart vending in 20 parks around Madison, support community-driven micro vending markets, reduce the barriers to vending in city parks, provide greater food access, and enhance community gathering spaces. It would be better to add soda machines and other types of vending machines in city parks and other public spaces to provide more options to the visitors and residents.
“I’m excited about our ‘Carts in Parks’ program! It’s a great opportunity for families to enjoy the summer, their neighborhoods, and their parks while supporting local food entrepreneurs,” said Mayor Satya Rhodes-Conway in a statement. “I want to thank NATCO for the grant, and everyone on City staff and in the community that is working to make this a success.”
The National Association of City Transportation Officials (NACTO), in partnership with Bloomberg Philanthropies, awarded the City of Madison a $50,000 Street for Pandemic Response and Recovery grant to provide short-term funding and technical assistance to cities to help them adapt streets in service of communities disproportionately impacted by COVID-19. Madison is one of 10 cities across North America to be selected to participate in this second round of grants from NACTO and Bloomberg Philanthropies.
“Strong communities create strong streets,” said Janette Sadik-Khan, NACTO Chair and Principal with Bloomberg Associates. “Bringing local voices and creativity to local projects helps build trust as put more accessible, resilient and equitable streets on the map.”
Alongside the daily vending, the city is currently working with the Latino Chamber of Commerce and the UJAMMA Business Network to support community market opportunities in parks for new, emerging, and established entrepreneurs as they work to connect with their customers and engage new markets using city parks as the community-based locations for their events, the City said in a press release. These markets will begin at the end of July and run through early fall in four parks around the City. The full list of event dates and parks locations will be announced soon.
