MIAMI BEACH, FL – Food trucks are not allowed in Miami Beach, but the city may establish a monthly food truck festival in North Beach as a way to gauge support changing the rule that prohibits the nomadic kitchens.

As the South Florida food truck craze exploded in Miami-Dade County, different communities welcomed scores of rolling restaurants with regular festivals for the scene’s foodie following.

Johnson & Wales University’s North Miami campus features the Biscayne Triangle Truck Round-Up on Tuesdays, South Dade hosts the Cauley Square Food Truck Party each Wednesday, and the Magic City Casino features the monthly Wheelin’ Dealin’ Street Food Festival, to name a few.

But there are no such events on Miami Beach, which has mostly been off-limits to food trucks.

That, however, may change.

At the request of Commissioner Michael Góngora, the city is considering the creation of a monthly or bi-monthly food truck festival on North Beach’s Ocean Terrace, a two-block stretch of oceanfront hotels, shops and restaurants starting at 73rd Street. And if all goes well, a general city prohibition of the popular but sometimes controversial food trucks could end.

“Its a good idea because we’re trying to encourage more business in North Beach and get more people up to Ocean Terrace,” he said.

According to the city, food trucks are only allowed to set up shop as private caterers or during permitted special events.

But Góngora said he thought inviting the mobile eateries — which have an online following of tens of thousands on Facebook and Twitter and web pages designed to locate individual trucks — would attract new crowds to North Beach and in particular Ocean Terrace, an area he said has problems with vagrants, panhandling and “illicit behavior.”

When Góngora brought the issue up recently during a Neighborhoods committee meeting, commissioners and administrators agreed to look into a trial food truck festival during an slow time for business, such as a week night, before considering changing any city laws.

Góngora is meeting with North Beach residents 8:30 a.m. Thursday at Sazons Cuban Cuisine, 7305 Collins Ave., to discuss the proposal. City staffers will return to Sazons at 10 a.m. on June 2 for a second discussion.

The community meetings could be important, considering food trucks haven’t always been welcomed by brick-and-mortar business owners who pay rent and sometimes complain that the trucks swoop in and steal customers, leave litter and food behind or flood storefronts with exhaust.

In Miami, police have shut down food truck roundups on at least two occasions, citing code violations and complaints from residents.

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