DENVER — Denver Police's plan to curb gun violence around busy spots of lower downtown by banning food trucks is now in effect, with food trucks clearing out Thursday night.
Ben Herrera, owner of The Day of the Tacos food truck, has set up shop in LoDo. His food truck stays busy with customers coming through. But not this weekend.
“That’s where we make our money, Fridays and Saturdays. I mean, it’s a lot that we’re not going to see anymore until we just figure it out," Herrera said.
Denver Police have banned food trucks from parking between 18th and 21st on Blake, Market and Larimer Streets on the weekends.
"I asked the cops if they could give me an explanation. They said nope," Herrera said.
Denver Police said the action is needed to cut down on shootings and violence that has popped up on weekend nights. Police say they've got a lot of officers in those area who've seen people gather around food trucks after leaving bars and clubs. They hope sending the food trucks packing will help them prevent incidents from happening.
Herrera said he hasn't seen those extra patrols, and it feels like police are making them the scapegoat for a larger issue.
"Yeah, I feel so, definitely. I noticed last weekend after they handed out all the papers that there was a lot of police presence, like never before in the almost three months I've been parking here," Herrera said. "It's frustrating because I don't feel like us trying to make a good honest living are the cause of all the issues downtown."
Herrera said they had no communication, no time to prepare and now, they'll be forced to start over in a new spot with far less foot traffic.
"It's frustrating man. I'm a single dad of two kids and it's me and my mom. We're partners on this. And we actually, well we're making an income for two families, you know," Herrera said.
Herrera hopes Denver Police's plan to curb the violence works, but he hopes to see the city soon give food truck owners their prime spots back.
"Hopefully that gets solved. But it sucks that we have to be the ones paying for all these issues that have been happening here," Herrera said.
The city is offering food trucks other spots to park on weekends to make up for giving them the boot.
Owners say the new spots aren't in good locations and don't have nearly as much foot traffic, and they worry they'll lose the customer base they've spent months, even years building up.