Pensacola, Florida, Wednesday Afternoon, March 9, 1983

Hot Dog Stand Steams Eateries

By Teresa Hoffman
News Staff Writer

Downtown restauranteurs don’t plan to sit on their sesame seed buns if a sidewalk vendor is allowed to sell hotdogs outside of their establishments. Instead food merchants on South Palafox Street say they’ll organize” some kind of action” to limit the vendor. One businessman claimed he would sell his merchandise – including hot dogs from the luncheon counter – on the sidewalk.

Jeff Nursey, owner of JR’s Deli, wants to sell hotdogs from pushcarts at four locations in downtown. A City Council committee is recommending the city approve a one-year franchise for two locations on the west side of South Palafox Street and south of Government Street. In addition to standard license fees, Nursey would pay 5 percent of gross sales. Council is to act on the recommendation Thursday night.

Restaurant owners say they don’t mind competition, as long as it’s fair. But they don’t think Nursey will be fair competition. With no overhead costs, such as lease fees, utilities, insurance and the like, Nursey- or any pushcart vendor- would be able to undersell them.

In addition, downtown merchants are responsible for cleaning sidewalks in fronting their businesses. They say they don’t want to clean up litter left by Nursey and his customers.

And restaurant owners don’t want Nursey’s customers to walk into their businesses to use restroom facilities.

Last month, the Downtown Improvement Board voted 4-0 to recommended City Council deny Nursey’s request because of objections raised by the restaurant owners.

Picadilly Deli owner Ken Leisinger said allowing a sidewalk vendor downtown would be unfair to other merchants “ who have to go by the system. Anyone who competes with retial should have to follow the same rules and regulations. There are different health laws for vendors versus restaurants. I don’t feel it’s fair to downtown businesses who are established and that pay taxes, water and support the city structure.

We’d try to organize some action to stop him from working near established areas. If the City Council wants a hotdog stand, set it up in front of city hall and let them worry about it,” Leisinger said.

At Newberry’s Drug Store, which features a luncheon counter, store manager Carl Warden said he would take his merchandise to the sidewalk if Nursey’s pushcarts are allowed. “If a resident can’t have a sidewalk sale, why should this guy?:” he said. “I’ll push my cart outside. I’ve been around for a long time, paying taxes. I’d definitely take my food outside. If he can do it, why not me? It wouldn’t hurt business (at the luncheon counter) at all, but there shouldn’t be special rules for special people. “

Betsy Dicks who with her husband Calvin owns Someplace Else, said Nursey’s request to sell hotdogs in front of established restaurants is “ tacky of the guy” Each location he wants is right in front of an existing food establishment.

“ We are trying to bring dignity to the street” Dicks said. “ (The pushcarts ) are not in keeping with the mood we’re trying to promote. And (the downtown merchants) have spent tens of thousands of dollars to help renovate the area. Then this guy spends next to nothing to compete with us. He should have to contribute look we have.”

The owner of downtown’s two hotdog restaurants, Jim Holler, said competing with a vendor would be virtually impossible.

Competition is fine as long as it’s fair, but there’s no way merchants can offer food as cheaply because ( Nursey) has no overhead,” Holler said. If he wants to set up, he should go into a different district, such as the south side of Main Street.”

Holler suggested the vacant stores on South Palafox Street be utilized before allowing sidewalk vendors. He also said Nursey’s franchise fee should be step to be comparable to expenses borne by established merchants. “ I’ve never seen a pretty city where they have a city vendor,” he said. “They’re all dirty and nasty, not the type of image we’re trying to portray. Vendors need to stay out of the downtown improvement area.”

SIDEWALK SPOTLIGHT

Part-time entertainers vie to perform at Sundance Square

Date: July 15, 1998

Jeffrey Nursey brings life back to the streets of Fort Worth with Buskers.

Street performance or busking is the act of performing in public places for gratuities. In many countries the rewards are generally in the form of money but other gratuities such as food, drink or gifts may be given. Street performance is practiced all over the world and dates back to antiquity.

"Busking or street entertainment is legal, begging is not. Busking is about entertainment. Of course buskers want money for what they are doing but then they are providing a service for that money, said Roland Mackey, General Manager of Sundance Square

Fifty bucks a night plus tips won't make them rich, but then, the Allures aren't in it for the money. "We'll sing anywhere. Sometimes we sing at the IHOP," said Candy Green, a member of the quartet. "We just love to sing."

They must love it a lot, because the group, a ladies' barbershop quartet, auditioned Tuesday for the privilege of capping their workweeks by spending their precious weekend nights standing on a street corner and singing for not much more than gas money.

The siren call of fame lured more than a dozen acts - most of them working stiffs with day jobs - to the Caravan of Dreams nightclub, where they tried out to become sidewalk entertainers for downtown Fort Worth's fun-hungry weekend crowds.

The "busker" program (quaint British for "street performer") is part of the flourishing downtown renaissance engineered by Sundance Square management - Sundance being the Ed Bass-owned company that owns much of the real estate and virtually all of the new entertainment venues in the district.

"We want to increase the street-level activity," said Jeff Nursey, an entertainment expert and avid entertainer contractor hired by Ed Bass and Sundance to book and manage the buskers. "We need more variety." Said Nursey.

Variety is what they're getting: The cast of performers already working the weekend crowds includes singers and clowns, a fire juggler, a flute band and a banjo-playing comedian in a Grandpa Jones getup who emceed Tuesday's auditions.

Busker wannabes at the tryouts covered a lot of entertainment bases. There were magicians and guitarists and a rap singer and a saxophonist. Sadly, a troupe of tap-dancers canceled at the last minute.

Mr. Nursey, who already manages a fleet of roving hot-dog carts for Sundance, said the concentration of downtown clubs, shops, theaters and restaurants draws as many as 30,000 visitors a day on weekends. He's aiming to provide enough free sidewalk entertainment to please yuppie hipsters, kid-toting parents and everyone in between.

The auditions, 10-minute back-to-back stage bites, made a surreal performance parade in the nightclub's cavernous lounge. While a magician made eggs disappear onstage, a band duded up in Sons of the Pioneers outfits tuned their guitars in the corner; a teenage singing group clustered around their lyric book, cramming; a guy in the back tried to squeeze his way past carrying a guitar case and, oddly, a truncated steering wheel.

Auditionees were promised the judges' decisions by Wednesday, and it would be tough to decide who wouldn't make the cut: Performances ranged from pretty darn good to sublime.

The Texas Trail Hands, a divinely melodious cowpoke group that includes an adman, a high school teacher and an airline pilot plus a crackerjack lady yodeler, were an instant hit.

The Bellaires, a quartet of 17-year-old boys (Bell High School, get it?) who have sung barbershop together since junior high, produced melting harmonies sweet enough to make you sigh. They were shepherded to the audition by the baritone's mom.

"We can only sing for donations," said Bellaire Tyson Strittmatter, a polite boy who looks like Opie Taylor did when he was barely out of short pants. "If we got paid, it would violate UIL rules."

And there were the fabulous Allures - a receptionist, a couple of secretaries and a technical consultant in matching crimson pantsuits with blinding rhinestone trim - who were dead-on perfect, no guide for their voices but a single note from a pitch pipe. You couldn't resist them unless you were stone-deaf.

"We all have normal jobs," said Allure Kathy Parker. "But this is what it's really about."

Jeffrey Nursey is available through his company Creative Food and Fun. He currently resides in Fairhope, Alabama and Pensacola, Florida. His personal cell phone number is 850-207-6621.