AMHERST, NY – The fight over food trucks drove into Amherst Monday night as one by one, food truck operators made their case for keeping costs down in Buffalo’s biggest suburb.

Some food truck owners were in tears describing how narrow their profit margins are, and pleading for Amherst Town Board members to vote against a proposal that would’ve imposed a $500 a year permit fee on food trucks operating in Amherst, limit them to only one hour of operation on public roads, and keep them at least a hundred feet away from restaurants.

Valerie Taylor of the Roaming Buffalo said, “We have two small boys and this is all I do, this is our life.”

Peter Cimino of Lloyd Taco Truck said, “For many businesses they have been making the same food for years and are complaining about competition…We say it’s time to bring your game up. Realistically, we are competing with brown paper bags, not restaurants.”

“We want to operate in Amherst but we can’t afford the extra $500,” Taylor added.

The truck operators came with an online petition of 3,000 people supporting them, and in the end the board agreed to go back to the drawing board at how restrictive the law should be.

Board member Steven Sanders said, “The entire goal and objective of this was to make life easier for the food trucks, did we miss the mark, I don’t know maybe.”

Board member Mark Manna added, “This is our first time dealing with this, so we’ll go back to the drawing board and get a law we can live with.”

It will be at least two months now before any new law is drawn up for food trucks in the Town of Amherst.

Find the original article with video by George Richert at wivb.com <here>