Hot dog rules spark a symbol-laden spat

For the past 15 years, the smell of hot dogs has wafted over Waterbury’s Rusty Parker Memorial Park, thanks to Julie and Mark Roy.

The duo sells Roy’s College Dogs from a distinctive metal hot dog cart, shaded by a bright red and yellow umbrella. The cart’s multiple compartments secretly house all the classic hot dog fixings.

To sell the dogs on the streets of Waterbury, the Roys must pay a village vending fee of $3 per day — an amount that hasn’t changed since the 1930s.

Julie, known around town as the “hot dog lady,” said that back in the days before Tropical Storm Irene laid waste to downtown Waterbury, back when 1,400 people worked at the state office complex located right near her cart, she’d sell hot dogs five days a week for about five months per year, paying licensing fees of about $60 a month.

Today, not much costs what it did in the 1930s, which is why the Waterbury Village Trustees are thinking about boosting the vendor fee to $100 per month, or $400 a year, and to set limits on where street vendors can park their carts.

Those proposals have the Roys seeing red.

The upshot, for now: The trustees, who began discussing the update in March, decided they won’t take action anytime soon. They plan to invite residents to express their opinions at a meeting in September.

Symbolic food

A hot dog slathered in ketchup and mustard, piled high with onions and relish, is a lot more than working-class street food.

No, the hot dog is a venerable tradition that dates back to at least 1870. Over time, what started as sausage in a bun morphed into a food that became associated with America and baseball. As early as 1900, a cartoon depicted hot dog sales during a New York Giants baseball game at the Polo Grounds.

The National Hot Dog & Sausage Council estimates 862,702 hot dogs are eaten at each Major League ballpark per year. With 30 teams, that’s more than 24 million hot dogs, just in Major League ballparks. Throw in Triple-A, Double-A, the New England Collegiate Baseball League and what have you, and you’re putting up some serious numbers.

Elsewhere in the U.S., consumers spent more than $1.7 billion on hot dogs at supermarkets in 2012.

So, the Waterbury hot-dog debate may have an emotional subtext that goes well beyond grilling or steaming.

Irene’s impact

At a meeting last week, Julie Roy told the trustees that she has paid $150 to sell dogs at the park so far this year.

“This year I’m only working three days a week, and the year before that I was working three days a week, but I would guess half those days I went home losing money since Irene,” she said.

Municipal Manager Bill Shepeluk said the new ordinance would set a flat monthly rate of $100, eliminating an “honor system” that’s used now. A vendor pays the monthly fee to the village — at any time of the month — and is then responsible for keeping track of when the month is up and it’s time to pay again.

Daily or monthly, it’s still unfair to raise prices, Roy said. Towns as large as Barre Town and as small as Eden have no permit fees, she said. Barre City charges vendors $50 a year, while both Middlebury and Williston charge $100 annually.

Transient vendors in Montpelier pay $50 for a period they agree upon with the city, and “the length depends on your needs and what works and makes sense,” said the city clerk, John Odum.

Waterbury Village Trustee Natalie Howell-Sherman told Roy she understands how the change might affect her business, and the three-member board is not taking the decision lightly.

Still, it makes sense to “bring things up to date a little bit, because it hasn’t been looked at in so long,” she said.

What about parking?

The vendor proposal also deals with parking, a chronic issue in the village.

The proposal suggests no vendor take up more than two spaces and certain locations — including spaces on Park Row, where the Roys frequently set up — could be off-limits.

Julie Roy questioned the need for parking restrictions, saying there’s never been an issue.

But Shepeluk disagreed.

“You know as well as I that people have complained about you parking your hot dog stand on Park Row,” he told Julie Roy. “Don’t say it’s never been a problem.”

Roy said the most local business people and residents she’s talked to support small businesses such as the hot dog cart.

She even started a petition, asking the trustees to consider not making any changes, and so far says she’s collected 173 signatures.