“Trailing” Behind

As a initial sidebar to what will hopefully be a long and healthy continuation of blog posts about my relationship with coffee, I would like to make a concerted plea to all enjoyers and proponents of GOOD coffee at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, that they would advocate for the “little guy,” who for months has provided happiness and joy by means of third-wave quality coffee.

For the first time in our short history, we are facing a push-back from the university because of our recent attempt to serve coffee  while also keeping ourselves warm during the frigid winter months.
After recently collaborating with a local dessert specialist in possession of a certified food trailer, we were accosted by University police for selling our now merged goods on city-approved carriage ways. In their confrontation, they insisted that we move, due to the height of our trailer obstructing north-bound oncoming traffic’s view of the pedestrian cross-walk sign. The argument certainly had merit.
When given the alternative of parking on a square of university-owned property adjacent to the Lapham Hall and Architecture buildings, we immediately complied. Yet due to the inconceivable and inordinate amount of bureaucracy at the University, UWM police, misguided in their attempt to offer my partner and I an opportunity to vend in another location, dispatched another officer to contradict initial propositions and thus demonize our behavior as “citable offenses.”

We were complicit with every ordinance demanded of us at the time and were thwarted because of the purposefully entangled system designed to perpetuate miscommunication and frustrate potential vendors.

Our final remaining channel for continuing on/near university property in the warmer entity lies in the hands of the University Student Association, whose faculty at this point have been uncooperative, delayed in response, and as bureaucratic as the rest of the University ”red-tapers.”

​Our call is for the collective student voice  to allow our companies to vend on university property for the sake of our employees in order that they may have proper working conditions, and for the students, who benefit from the sale of our goods. Although we realize that this time is busy for students, your involvement in this matter now may determine whether or not we vend at UWM in the future. We need you!

#uwm #weneedyourhelp #panthers #sojournermobilecoffee

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