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E-mail StorySummer's sonic spam: Irksome ice-cream trucks after nightfall
| Saturday, May 17 2008 6:47 PM
Last Updated: Saturday, May 17 2008 6:50 PM
Back in the days when I was regularly hurdling neighbors' hedges barefoot, trying to head off the Good Humor Man before he turned the corner, ice cream trucks were an indispensible part of the summer experience.
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Today, the end of the school year still signals the start of a three-month boom in business for that century-old slice of suburban Americana, the ice cream truck. For adults like me who suffer from chronic grouchiness, they are blights on the civic soundscape, but my grade-schooler exhibits the same Pavlovian response to those familiar jingles that I once did. (And, yes, those various tortures have names: "Turkey in the Straw," Scott Joplin's "The Entertainer" and, most grating of all, "Do Your Ears Hang Low.")
But at 10 o'clock at night, even a kid is liable to be annoyed by the sonic spam of an ice cream truck.
So it's no wonder that earlier this month a south Bakersfield woman was driven to temporary, low-level insanity by an ice cream truck driver who persisted, night after night, in cruising her street at 9:30, 10, even 10:30 p.m.
Finally, perhaps approaching homicidal rage, she called her Bakersfield city councilman to complain. Ward 3 Councilman Zack Scrivner dutifully responded by asking City Attorney Ginny Gennaro if anything could be done.
The short-term answer: Yes. The long-term answer: Almost certainly.
Bakersfield police officers located the ice cream vendor in question without much trouble. Ostensibly, they might not have had anything to cite him for, since the city has no limitations on hours of ice-cream truck operation. (More on that later.) But it turns out the guy didn't have a business license, didn't have the proper health department permit, didn't even have a driver's license. A trifecta! They impounded his truck.
No word on the driver's immigration status or his standing (if applicable) with county child-support enforcers, but the entire affair raises an interesting question: Who are these people who are driving slowly through our neighborhoods, beckoning our children with their $3 frozen confections and Pied-Piper digital ditties? No doubt the vast majority are hard-working individuals just trying to put food on their families' tables. But is every last one of them beyond reproach? How would we know?
San Bernardino County has been asking the same questions. Supervisors there unanimously approved an ordinance May 13 that adds one more layer of regulation to the ice-cream truck business: Operators may not be convicted sex offenders.
About a year ago, residents of a neighborhood in the Riverside County town of Perris discovered that a registered sex offender was driving an ice cream truck downs their streets. The disclosure inspired Assemblyman Paul Cook, R-Yucca Valley, to write a bill that would have barred such offenders from that sort of business. Delays eventually brought about the bill's demise, but San Bernardino County took up the effort. (Riverside County may do so as well.)
At least two states, Illinois and New York, have approved laws prohibiting sex offenders from driving ice cream trucks. So have the cities of Tucson, Ariz., and San Antonio. Would it make sense here? With about 2,000 registered sex offenders on the books, one would think so.
The Kern County Environmental Health Department, which licenses and inspects all "mobile food facilities," has issued at least 209 currently valid permits to ice cream truck vendors, and another 65 for frozen-treat push-carts. All are subject to an annual inspection. We know who these operators are; it wouldn't be too hard to cross-check their names with the Megan's Law database of sex offenders.
For now, the city will merely look into hours of operation. Noise concerns are the primary motivation -- and that's a valid issue -- but limited hours would have the bonus benefit of minimizing strangers' contact with kids after dark, as well.
The matter will come before the city's legislation and litigation committee either June 16 or July 21 for a discussion about reasonable hours of operation. One suggestion that's been floated: 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Another option: From 9 a.m. until sunset, which is the county's standard for unincorporated areas.
The committee should also look at changing the manner in which vendors are required to post their business licenses. Right now they must carry their licenses "on their person." The city might consider requiring them on or near service windows or, as the county does with health permits, on the back of the vehicle, where law enforcement can see them.
No word on whether the discussion will also include the possibility of a permanent ban on "Do Your Ears Hang Low." We can only hope.
The more serious question is whether another level of screening is also in order.
Reach Robert Price at 395-7399 or rprice@bakersfield.com