The Madison City Council voted Tuesday to temporarily suspend the vending license of the operator of Jin's Chicken & Fish, a popular downtown food vendor catering to the late-night crowd.
The council suspended operator Jeff Okafo's vending license for six months after Okafo amassed 29 parking tickets and became confrontational with parking enforcement officers, according to a complaint filed with the city's Vending Oversight Committee in July.
At the meeting, Okafo said all his tickets were paid for and pleaded for council members to allow him to keep his vending license for the successful vendor's truck on North Frances Street.
This is what I do for a living ... I deal with the late-night college crowd, I deal with the students and that's my job and I enjoy it,"" Okafo said. ""It's my business, it's my life, it's what I do.""
Despite Okafo's statements, city ordinances allow for the suspension of a vendor's operating license if parking tickets and other violations become problematic to their duties as a vendor. VOC member Rosemary Lee said, in addition to parking violations, Okafo has a history of being caught driving with a revoked driver's license, further warranting his suspension.
""The vendors have to fulfill the responsibilities of their license,"" Lee said.
Jin's Chicken & Fish has come under fire from the city before. In 2004, the council passed an ordinance banning vending in residential neighborhoods in the evening hours after complaints surfaced about Okafo's business on Langdon Street, according to Ald. Mike Verveer, District 4.
""The bottom line is that this sort of behavior on the part of this vendor has gone on for many, many years, unfortunately,"" he said.
Verveer said Jin's Chicken & Fish is still allowed to do business, but without Okafo as part of the operation, during the period of his suspension.
Ald. Eli Judge, District 8, alluded to the huge following of Jin's Chicken & Fish among his constituents. A self-described ""weekly patron"" of the vendor, Judge said he doubted Okafo's suspension would stand in the way of the business's long-term success.
""I personally have ... little worry that the success of the cart will continue for decades to come,"" Judge said.
