Food Truck Drama Is Nothing New in Green Cove
City Was Subject of Ridicule in the Aftermath of Hurricane Irma
Ed Gaw went on to become a city councilor in 2020 and later denied that his Food Truck Friday initiative had been an attempt to atone for one of the greatest public-relation disasters in this region’s modern history.
Food Truck Friday may be an election issue today, but since its creation in 2018, it’s been a roaring success overall. So much so that people forget that the Green Cove Springs signature event had come on the heels of an infamous food-truck incident, which became a national symbol of government imbecility.
Hurricane Irma had struck Green Cove on September 10, 2017 and the next day the city was a mess. Power was out, and there were downed trees all over the place.
One man with a food truck—Triple J Barbecue—decided to set up in downtown to feed first responders and utility crews—for free. “Anybody in a utility vehicle we would feed for free. If they came in a utility vehicle, they were going to eat,” Jack Roundtree later said.
Roundtree had barely set up his food truck in at the old Rich’s restaurant parking lot in Green Cove Springs. Local residents, robbed of electricity by Hurricane Irma, were just lining up for hot barbecue lunches, when two police cruisers pulled into the parking lot.
The officers told Roundtree to pack up and leave. City manager’s orders, they said. Roundtree didn’t have a permit, and he was feeding people unlawfully.
This was during the era of mayors Palm Lewis and Mitch Timberlake. Danielle Judd was the city manager. These folks were trying to erase the city’s old “Little Detroit” nickname from its car dealership days, and anything on four wheels and not moving was the enemy.
Irma had destroyed or heavily damaged at least 450 Clay County homes, wrecked roads and sent nearly 900 residents emergency shelters, and yet City Manager Judd had made it a priority to send police to shut down a food truck.
Mayor Timberlake famously defended the decision, saying he did not consider Roundtree’s gesture “a Good Samaritan situation.”
According to Timberlake, had the operators of the food truck come to city officials and asked for permission, officials would have been happy to direct the food truck to where utility workers were in need of food. “That didn’t happen,” he said.
Yeah. No.
Had Roundtree decided to press his case at City Hall, he would have been greeted with a sign that read: “Due to Hurricane Irma, City Hall offices and services will re-open on Thursday.”
The owner of a now-defunct downtown restaurant had complained about Triple J, even though his restaurant wasn’t even open, let alone providing free food to linemen.
Timberlake’s 15 minutes of fame came and went. The “Good Samaritan” quote was recorded in an interview with Reason. a Libertarian leaning magazine. Libertarian political philosophy holds that government is an ass in the best of times, and the City of Green Cove had just provided a worst-case scenario.
Timberlake also told Reason that a disaster response was not the time to be feeding people:
“He is a commercial food truck operator, and he knows the local ordinances for food truck operation and had a responsibility to reach to the city to get a permit for what he wanted to do,” Timberlake says. “We don’t prohibit food trucks. There are times and places where we welcome them.”
The aftermath of a devastating hurricane is not one of those times. Timberlake spoke of the “tremendous debris” in the wake of the storm, and 90 percent of the city was without power. More than 100 trees were down across the city and extensive property damage to homes along the St. Johns River, which flows past the city. Half of the city was still without power Wednesday when the Triple J’s food truck got the boot.
With all of those challenges, it was remarkable city officials and police could maintain their focus on rules protecting unsuspecting hurricane victims from a hot meal on wheels. And quite a feat for a restaurateur to look past the devastating damage to track down city officials (city hall was closed; they were operating from an emergency management shelter) and rat out one lousy food truck.
It wasn’t just Reason. The Institute for Justice, The Daily Caller, Investor’s Business Daily The American Enterprise Institute, the Free Thought Project and even American Military News picked up the story. You might say that the incident put Green Cove on the map.
Timberlake’s astonishing defense incensed enough Libertarian types that the phones started ringing at city hall. The callers were not friendly.
At the time, Ed Gaw was observing this bizarre sequence from his perch on the city’s Planning & Zoning Board. The following year, he organized the first Food Truck Friday series. Gaw went on to become a city councilor in 2020 and later denied that his FTF initiative had been an attempt to atone for one of the greatest public-relation disasters in this region’s modern history.
In June 2020, Florida legislators passed a law forbidding cities and towns from restricting food trucks in their jurisdictions beyond the rules already set out by the state.
This should not even been a thing!