It’s about 1 AM, I think, but it feels like 4 AM. I’m tired and the ball and chain of citywide specials I’ve tied on is pulling me right out of the bar onto Girard Avenue and tossing me into the orbit of various food trucks parked up along the street. Brisket, pork, empanadas, tacos—all the foods a well-lubricated townie like myself needs after an evening of bar inspections are available at my fingertips.

“Don’t hog that Loko,” a man yells to the smiling girl standing next to me sipping a grape Four-Loko with a straw. In my daze, I’m handed a brisket sandwich from a foodtruck when, out of nowhere I hear someone shout:

“There’s good pizza right down there!”

I turned to see a man clad in an apron splotched with flour and red sauce confidently repeating his pizza mantra as he headed west toward the El. I had seen incidents like this documented on Instagram with a similar-looking—maybe drunk—individual handing out slices of pizza and yelling, “Give me your business!” to the food truck patrons. Now I’m seeing this phenomenon firsthand.

Is this possible? Could someone dislike the street food oasis at Frankford and Girard so much that they are showing up, shouting and urging late-night crowds to leave? What’s the beef? And I’m not referring to the sandwich I just ordered.

It turns out that there are people in our neighborhood who claim the food trucks are trashing the streets and causing the surrounding businesses to suffer. This was brought to The Spirit’s attention by an outspoken man who refers to himself as “Sharky.” On any night you can find Michael “Sharky” Barkus in his half-pizza, half-hotdog shop, F&G Pizza. You can see him behind the counter, dragging a wooden spoon along the grates of his grill and explaining what his signature “Sharkinator” sandwich is to customers.

When Barkus first contacted The Spirit, he claimed to be in charge of the Sharky Business Association, which he said had the support of 30 local businesses. He soon backtracked and told me it was the Fishtown Business Association and that he was going to clean up this neighborhood. I thought maybe he meant the Fishtown Area Business Association so I spoke with Joanna Winchester, the economic development director at FABA. She confirmed that neither Barkus nor F&G Pizza are members. She declined to comment on how the FABA feels about people misrepresenting themselves, but Winchester added, “We would love to welcome any business owners in the area as new members.”

“I more or less walk around and do the investigation,” Barkus said. I pressed him to name one other business in his group. He would not and became defensive when I asked if I could speak to one of the businesses in his association. I asked him about his confrontations with the trucks and Barkus replied, “It got real ugly and I had to lay off because of politics.”

According to Barkus, the food trucks aren’t cleaning up after themselves. “The problem was they were dumping their garbage in the [Wells Fargo] trash can,” Barkus said. He sees himself as a sole crusader against filth. “It’s getting uglier and uglier and no one is standing up to it.”

Barkus also claims the food trucks are leaving piles of trash in and around the municipal waste baskets.

“They put bags all up and down Girard Ave.,” he said.

As Barkus puts it, Girard Avenue is covered in rat-infested trash that’s rotting in the sun by Sunday morning.

I reached out to Wells Fargo at the corner of Frankford and Girard to ask what their thoughts on the matter were. The food trucks all post up in front of the branch, so I figured they would have a good idea of what Barkus was barking about. The branch manager referred me to regional spokesman, James Baum, who told me he is aware that the food trucks are operating there. According to Baum, the bank has filed no complaints against the food trucks with L&I or any other city agency. The spokesman didn’t seem to mind the presence of the trucks and pointed out that they are not on the bank’s property. It sounded like the bank couldn’t care less about what the happens out front once the banks locks its doors for the day.

So I began to look into Barkus’ background and his claims.

Parking is one of Barkus’ biggest complaints about the food trucks, so I was surprised to find a Philadelphia Inquirer article dating back to 1990 describing a town meeting where 60 Langhorne, Pa. residents came out to protest a then 29-year-old Barkus’ truck dealership that was illegally parking trucks and causing grief to the surrounding community. According to The Inquirer, the borough council was powerless to evict Barkus and could only offer to make the area two-hour parking in hopes of forcing him out.

I also found a tweet from a company named USA Mobile Commissary. That tweet warns people that Michael “Sharky” Barkus has been harassing the food trucks. To get more insight on all this food truck drama, I spoke with Gary Koppelman, owner of USA Mobile  Commissary, which offers a place for food trucks to prep their food. The company also builds and refurbishes food trucks—that’s how Koppelman met Barkus.

According to Koppelman, a few weeks ago Barkus tried to sell him a food truck and delivered it to him on a flatbed. When Barkus couldn’t produce the title to the food truck, Koppelman refused to take it, even though he’d already paid for it. Two weeks of back-and-forth contact ultimately led to the State Police getting involved. Koppelman says that when the police went to Barkus’ business they impounded his flatbed, which was allegedly not stolen but taken without permission.

Koppelman also claims that Barkus has intimidated some of the food trucks that park in Fishtown. Koppelman described one account of Barkus following the “What’s In This” truck to Broad and Girard after it left Fishtown. The owner of that truck declined to comment. Koppelman also says Barkus likes to walk his pit bull by the taco trucks in an effort make patrons feel uncomfortable and leave the area. Barkus didn’t refute that he walks his dog by the trucks on weekends.

It’s important to note that while Koppelman seemed trustworthy, he is no saint either. In 2003, he was charged with 14 counts of wire fraud while operating a company called “Concert Coach,” which booked tours. He allegedly took deposits, and for various reasons, did not fulfill his obligations. He pled guilty.

Another man who has seen Barkus’ antics first-hand is Michael Calabria, owner of the La Porchetta food truck. He likes to roll up in your ‘hood with carefully-slow roasted pork and serve sandwiches right to you at your moment of most-inebriated vulnerability. Terrible right? Barkus helped put an end to that nonsense.

“He’s been taking pictures and video. He’s not breaking the law, but he’s just a creep,” Calabria said.

Barkus has successfully soured Calabria to the area, and truck owner says he’s not excited about setting up here anymore. “I don’t know what he’s trying to prove. It’s a goddamn food truck,” Calabria said. “He’s somewhat of an old, sick man…there’s something wrong with him.”

I decided the only way to find out the truth was to keep an eye on these food trucks myself. I did so on June 5th and 6th.

My first check was at 3:40 PM: The corner of Frankford and Girard Avenues is clean. Only cigarette butts litter the ground and the trash cans are empty. The same is noted on my return at 6:54 PM. There is only one taco truck currently on location.

I return at 10:17 PM to find five trucks parked along the curb. According to the law, each truck must provide a receptacle for trash. I counted three trash cans. Two trucks appear to be in violation, but there is no trash on the ground and the area is generally clean.

At 12:59 AM the area is still clean and a crowd has gathered to eat their nighttime munchies. By 2:42 AM the bars have let out and 30 to 40 people huddled around the trucks, ordering, waiting and eating.

My last check was at 3:30 AM. Again the area was still clean. The bank and municipal waste baskets were not full and the trucks were beginning to leave.

I returned at 10:09 AM the following day. The area is pretty clean considering what was happening there only several hours prior. The only trash was a few cans of PBR, a broken bottle and one bag of trash next to the trash can.

So looking at my facts here, I’m convinced that these food trucks are not “destroying” the neighborhood in the way Barkus says, but are in fact doing their due diligence toward keeping the area clean. If you notice anything weird, dirty or uncouth happening around the corner of Frankford and Girard on late weekend nights drop us a line at news@spiritnews.org. We’ll be sure to investigate and see if the food truck drama continues.