(KCPW News) Bret Cali, the owner of a small business that sells ice cream from bicycles, says Salt Lake City is again waging war on ice cream. Cali says he was kicked out of Liberty Park a few days ago by police officers even though he has a vendors permit. Last year, he had the same problem when a Liberty Park concessions owner complained to the city, but Cali says after heated controversy, he received a wink and a nod from city officials who told him he could continue operating his business.
“After I got my business license this year again, I put money into the bike business and into the ice cream business expecting not to have any problems, and now that the weather’s great, you know, I’ve got freezers of ice cream ready to go and with zero notice, I’ve been kicked out of the parks,” he tells KCPW.
Cali says he feels the city is disregarding his environmentally friendly venture and his job.
But Salt Lake City Parks and Lands Director Emy Maloutas says a city ordinance specifies that businesses should not operate in parks without written permission from the mayor or through a special events application, and she says Cali has neither.
“Salt Lake City is a very progressive city and we are supportive of a vibrant economy,” she says. “The question here is our parks at this point in time, the policy has been established to keep these open to the public and in a way that is unencumbered by folks trying to conduct business.”
A spokesman for Mayor Ralph Becker tells KCPW the city philosophically supports and appreciates what Cali does, but it’s not pursuing efforts to change the ordinance.
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