File Under: Damn Fools

Few things wrought by Katrina have been more appreciated than the many taco stands that sprouted up across the city, and yet Jefferson Parish officials have decided to shut down many of these within the next ten days.

From the Times-Picayune report:

"Parish Councilman Louis Congemi proposed the crackdown, saying that the vendors clutter parish streets, that they pose safety and health risks and that they are mobile, fleeting operations that don't show any commitment to doing permanent business in Jefferson Parish."

Wait, what? If buying a $45,000 truck and driving it out into the wastelands to feed construction workers fantastic, affordable food for the past 20 months isn't a commitment, I don't know what is. For some of these guys, the taco truck has been the first step toward opening a permanent business -- it's naive to think this new law will expedite that process for more of them, but I'm hoping it will.

June 21, 2007 11:48 AM | | Comments (2)

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2 Comments

That whole story makes my blood boil. Seriously, since when does JP give a damn about clutter. Have they looked around their parish recently? Racist effin'...[grumble]...[grumble]...

I live in an agricultural county that is about 20% Hispanic, and the progression from Taco truck to fixed location restaurant is quite established here- we have former Truck owners who now have 2 or 3 locations of popular restaurants.
So it is tried and true that the truck is a stepping stone to more community roots, and employment and taxes paid.

In Portland Oregon, the city allows several parking lots downtown to become Catering Truck Rows, with a variety of types of food offered- the trucks are there all the time, every day, allowing you to choose your ethnicity- an outdoor, mobile food court.
Thai, Indian, Mexican, Burmese, Hot dogs, Vegetarian- its great.

This is a trend that would be perfect in NO, as it requires no expensive infrastructure...

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This page contains a single entry by Culture Gulf published on June 21, 2007 11:48 AM.

Hoping for the best, preparing for the rest was the previous entry in this blog.

File Under: Damn Fools, cont. is the next entry in this blog.

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