Madison's Vending Oversight Committee ruled Wednesday that Tutto Pasta Cucina Italiana, 107 King St., violated the city's sidewalk vendor ordinance with its oversized sidewalk cafe, resulting in a 30-day suspension of its sidewalk cafe license beginning June 1.
\We are doing a good job on both State Street and King Street. I don't feel I deserve to be treated like this,"" said Tutto Pasta co-owner Joseph Amodeo.
He said he thinks the suspension will hurt their business, adding when the restaurant had to close its sidewalk cafe for the Ironman Triathlon, he lost approximately $400 per day.
Street Vending Monitor William Olinger first handed other co-owner Enzo Amodeo a citation Aug. 29 because the restaurant's sidewalk cafe was only 5 feet from the facing of the building instead of the required 6 feet, according to city lawyer Lara Mainella.
""Alderman Mike Verveer [District 4] complained about the sidewalk cafe at Tutto Pasta in hope that I would act accordingly and go to the site,"" said Warren Hansen, who has been working with vending regulation since 1998.
Hansen went to the site and drew a line on the sidewalk with chalk 5 feet 6 inches away from the building, trying to show the workers how they had to change the caf??.
Olinger said he went with his supervisor, George Hank, Aug. 29, to look at the cafe, and measured from the front of the building to the barrier of the cafe. They measured it at 5 feet, and Olinger went inside and wrote a citation and vendor monitor report and gave it directly to Enzo Amodeo.
Vending Oversight Committee member Robert Vogts said the Aug. 29 citation was Tutto Pasta's third. He added the owners did not know that after three citations, there was the possibility of the city suspending their sidewalk cafe license for six months or revoking it for one year.
As the hearing came to a close, the committee of five members voted unanimously that Tutto Pasta violated the ordinance and should serve a penalty.
Mainella called for an agreement with a 30-day suspension of Tutto Pasta's sidewalk vendor license as a penalty, which won a majority vote. The suspension will be effective June 1 and will run for 30 days.
