Issue date: April 21, 1999
By RENEE MOILANEN
The sound of an ice cream truck coming down the road may be music to children's ears,-- but for many Belle Haven residents, the sound isn't so sweet.
On any clear day, the trucks are out, blaring music and luring kids into traffic-filled streets, some residents say -- and they're tired of it.
"We'd like to have these trucks out of our community," says Connie Johnson, a Belle Haven resident. "When these trucks stop in front of my house, I can't hear a thing. And we've got kids running out to the trucks -- we've just been fortunate a kid hasn't been killed."
John Preyer, a fellow Belle Haven resident, also wants the trucks out -- and he has a petition with some 50 signatures to try to do just that. He sent the petition to the city several months ago, asking Menlo Park to stop renewing the ice cream vendors' business licenses.
"The trucks are a danger," he says, "and we're all tired of the noise."
Three ice cream vendors are licensed to do business in Menlo Park, according to the city's finance department. But these three vendors circle the Belle Haven neighborhood almost exclusively -- neither the city staff nor the police department can recall any complaints or reports of ice cream trucks outside Belle Haven.
Ms. Johnson said that if residents in other parts of Menlo Park had to deal with the trucks' noise, the city would have taken action long ago. "(The city) wouldn't allow these trucks in other parts of Menlo Park -- and we want them out of Belle Haven," she says.
Mr. Preyer says he can hear the trucks coming from at least five blocks away -- sometimes he can hear four or five trucks at a time. "It just goes on and on. The same truck will come through the neighborhood three or four times."
He's hoping that the city's noise ordinance -- now in the draft stages -- will put an end to the trucks' loud music. The ordinance will likely impose decibel restrictions, which the trucks probably can't meet, Mr. Preyer says.
And the city is hoping for the same thing. "Right now, it's very difficult to regulate volume," says Code Enforcement Officer Liz Fambrini. it'll be easier."
But Jose Ochoa, owner of Cesi Ice Cream, says that he's never heard complaints about his music being too loud, and he's out in Belle Haven every day. He keeps the music as low as he can, he says, but it's crucial to his business. "If you don't have music, you don't sell anything," he adds.
But for Tim Willoughby, principal of Beechwood School in Belle Haven, noise isn't the issue -- it's safety. "The trucks present a real hazard, especially for younger children," he says. "Kids hear the truck coming and they run for it -- they don't pay attention to the traffic."
His concerns were given weight by an incident that occurred last October: A 10-year-old girl was taken to the hospital after being hit by a car on Terminal Avenue -- she was running from an ice cream truck back to her house, says Cmdr. Dominick Peloso.
Plus, Mr. Willoughby says, some vendors sell things that are illegal in school, like pellet guns. At least one vendor -- Mr. Ochoa -- does sell pellet guns, which fire small, plastic bullets and contain warnings for young children. Mr. Willoughby said these guns are "not the kinds of things you want kids to have, and the kids who have brought them to school have gotten in pretty big trouble."
City Manager Jan Dolan says the city is aware of the concern among Belle Haven residents but hasn't formally responded to the petition. But, the city did reject an ice cream vendor's application for a business license around the time the petition came in, she says -- "our most immediate response."
"We know it's a concern to Belle Haven," she says, "and I've asked the staff to look into the problem further."
But at least two Belle Haven residents are big fans of the ice cream trucks. Belle Haven Elementary third-grader Raenisha Hooks and fifth-grader Jessie Tatum say they buy from the vendors every day -- and they'd be upset if the trucks were forced out.
"I buy everything from the ice cream truck," Jessie says.
And, the girls say, they don't think the trucks are noisy or hazardous for children. "People are just saying that to get (the vendors) in trouble," Raenisha says.
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