Late-night vendors on Broom and Johnson Street may be moved to Library Mall because of complaints from residents in the area, members of the Vending Oversight Committee said at their meeting Wednesday.
Karen Foxgrover, member of the VOC, said residents of the area often complain about the noise vendors bring to the area.
Warren Hansen, street vending coordinator, proposed assigning spots for vending carts on Broom and Johnson street to help stop disputes between vendors.
""The police are very uncomfortable dealing with this … monitoring the [area],"" Hansen said. ""The idea of having specifically assigned areas is so people don't show up wherever they want.""
However, representatives from the city attorney's office, who attended the meeting, said the city could not make site assignments on roadways, but could on pedestrian walkways.
Ald. Mike Verveer, District 4, said if the noise was not controlled and disputes between vendors did not cease, the committee might have to ""bite the bullet"" and vote to move the vendors to Library Mall, a pedestrian walkway.
Rosemary Lee, a member of the VOC, said she would not be happy if the committee voted to relocate vending carts to Library Mall. She said it would be ""unfair"" to the small business people.
""I am all for having the vendors there too,"" said Hawk Schenkel, also a member of the VOC. ""But the reality though is that there are problems associated with it, if we can't change it legally then we need to get rid of it.""
Schenkel suggested assigning vendors to specified zones of Broom and Johnson Street, rather than to certain spots. The VOC referred the proposal to the city attorney's office, which will report back to the committee at their next meeting.
The VOC motioned to invite all late-night vendors to the meeting for discussion about the proposal.
The VOC also discussed raising fees for special-event vending, prohibiting vending near public schools and implementing a stricter seniority system for vending outside of Camp Randall.
