Popular Pleasanton Taco Truck Gets Help Through Community Fundraiser

PLEASANTON, CA — The fundraising efforts started Wednesday night, but the dispute behind the fundraiser started months ago. A popular Pleasanton taco truck owner recently forced to move to a new location following a complaint lodged by the Casa Real event center at Ruby Hill Winery is getting some financial help through community members who are passionately supporting her cause.

Nelly’s Taco Truck customer and advocate Jenna Mahina established an online fundraiser this week to help Nelly Ramirez pay for the payments on her truck, food and other costs associated with the sudden and continued loss of customers since being forced to move.

Ramirez, a San Jose resident, who has been selling tacos from her food truck parked near the intersection of Isabel and Vineyard avenues in Pleasanton for more than 18 years, was recently told she had to relocate Nelly’s Kitchen La Cocina truck to a new location across the street after a code enforcement officer conducted an investigation into the complaint lodged by Casa Real.

Following her move in July, Ramirez told Patch that her business has suffered and taken a dramatic hit in sales since she was ousted from her original location. Ramirez believed the lack of parking in the small turn-out on Alameda County-owned property is deterring her usual customers from stopping by the truck.

Mahina hopes the donations will help Ramirez continue to operate her truck, which is her livelihood. Click here to visit the donation page.

“I started this GoFundMe because I was outraged and I want to be a positive force of change for someone who has worked hard all her life. I believe that we all have the responsibility to lift each other up, and that with their success, companies have a responsibility to give back and use their power and influence for good.”

Weeks after she was relocated, representatives of the Casa Real at Ruby Hill Winery said they spoke to Ramirez with the assistance of a translator and offered a potential solution to the problem, which had snowballed into a heated controversy in the Tri-Valley community.

Casa Real offered Ramirez a spot on its property near her original location. In the meantime, city officials said the section of Vineyard Avenue in front of Casa Real near where Ramirez’s customers used to park will likely soon be a no-parking zone due to concerns for multiple safety and code violations found as a result of the investigation into Casa Real’s original complaint.

City officials said code enforcement investigates complaints and must take action after the investigation if violations or safety concerns are discovered.

“The reason for placing up this signage in this location is because if it is not posted as ‘No Parking’ the clientele of the food vending truck (especially the ones with larger profile vehicles or vehicles pulling trailers) will continue to utilize this area and park in ways which create traffic hazards by blocking bike lanes, pedestrian pathways or blocking visibility of the intersection,” Code Enforcement Officer Mark Dennis told Patch.

Years before the Casa Real event center opened, Ramirez said her truck was parked, with the city’s permission, on the shoulder of the city-owned property located near the Casa Real entrance. The two businesses existed near each other for years.

In May, Ramirez, who speaks only Spanish, received a letter in English from a lawyer representing the Ruby Hill Winery and Casa Real advising her that the customers patronizing her business were parking in the Casa Real lot, trespassing, causing a “private nuisance” and unsafe conditions on their property. Eventually, a complaint was lodged regarding the taco truck, and over the course of a few site visits, Dennis, the city’s senior code enforcement officer, determined there were some code violations and some issues related to safety and requested the owner relocate.

Since the move, East Bay residents have posted hundreds of comments on several local Facebook pages vowing to visit the taco truck as often as possible in support of Ramirez, while others expressed their dismay with Casa Real and Ruby Hill via the comment section on the Casa Real Facebook page.

Casa Real at Ruby Hill Winery has not yet responded for comment on this update.

Photos courtesy Autumn Johnson/ Patch