San Jose has threatened to close a food pantry over code violations, but Mayor Matt Mahan said Tuesday he’s working on a solution that would keep the operation running and quell the code concerns. Lighthouse Food Rescue and Distribution on North 17th Street has been fighting the city for a few days after code enforcement ordered it to shutter its food distribution due to zoning issues and threatened to fine the church behind the operation tens of thousands of dollars if it didn’t comply. There are also concerns that the sidewalk is being blocked by the operation. Mahan said he’s trying to find a compromise that works for all sides. “I just heard the news about the code action,” he said. “Look, in a big city, code enforcement can be a blunt instrument. They’re looking for code violations and trying to get people into compliance.” Lighthouse said it was stunned and troubled that its efforts to feed the community were at risk of being shuttered when the need is booming. “In the nonprofit world, we call this food deserts,” Pastor Ralph Olmos said. “These are places that are not occupied by any type of food rescue or distribution. So this is kind of a place that’s just kind of being ignored. It does ignore grandma and grandpa. It does ignore all our families that live in the community.” San Jose Oct 2 San Jose pantry using sidewalk to hand out food facing city code violations Sustainability Oct 5 Budding food scrap pickup services across the U.S. want your coffee grounds and eggshells San Francisco Sep 22 SF legislation seeks to legalize homemade street food sales One proposal is moving the operation to city-owned property, with the city covering the cost of the move. “Our goal is to work with Pastor Olmos to find an appropriate place that is as close as possible to where he currently is operating and just make sure that that operation is in compliance with basic codes,” Mahan said. Olmos said it’s difficult to uproot the operation and set up shop somewhere else. “It depends,” Olmos said. “It depends where it’s at. I’m very tied into the northside. I don’t want to just leave people hanging.” ...read more read less