On Mon, 21 Apr 2008 17:43:59 -0700 (PDT), aem >
fired up random neurons and synapses to opine:

>On Apr 21, 2:42*pm, "Nick Nuclear" >
>wrote:
>> http://saveourtacotrucks.org/
>
>[cross postings deleted, though some are interesting]
>
>Last week the County Board of Supervisors passed an ordinance that
>would make it a misdemeanor for a taco truck to park in one location
>longer than an hour. Penalties up to some significant amount, either
>$1000 or $5000, I forget. The ordinance applies only in
>unincorporated areas of the country, not in any of the cities. That
>includes East L.A., one of the large latino areas where there are many
>taco trucks and many Mexican restaurants. As you might imagine, the
>law is the result of complaints by the restaurant owners who say they
>can't compete with the trucks' prices.

Because my law firm currently has 3 lawsuits pending in federal court
against the *City* of LA, one of my self-appointed chores has been to
monitor the city council's meeting minutes, both of the council at
large and of a cherry picked few city council committees. It is
utterly breathtaking to me what the city council seems to think is
their God given duty to interfere in, regulate, tax, ignore...the
latest one was an ordinance to require the spaying or neutering of
pets over the age of 4 months. You can argue that that is a good
thing, but it has just astonished me the amount of ink and time the
city council has expended over this when the city has massive problems
with gangs, the LAPD, illegal immigrants, taggers, a crumbling
infrastructure...you name it. AFAICS, the taco trucks in southern
California are as much a part of the character of SoCal as the
symphony mural downtown on the 110 or the Grand Central Market on Hill
St.
>
>Seems to me the restaurant owners and the supervisors are wrong. The
>"dining experience" at a truck is different from a restaurant, and if
>the trucks left I wouldn't bet that nearby restaurants would suddenly
>do all the business that was going to the trucks. So everybody is
>losing here, not to mention the question of whether this is the kind
>of government people want. And not to mention that some the trucks
>serve great food.

A taco truck and a restaurant are apples and oranges. I would
patronize a taco truck over a restaurant, depending upon the taco
truck or the restaurant :-)

And I absolutely agree: restaruants aren't going to lose business to
taco trucks unless the restaurant sucks. How can it be else?

Terry "Squeaks" Pulliam Burd
--
"If the soup had been as hot as the claret, if the claret had been as
old as the bird, and if the bird's breasts had been as full as the
waitress's, it would have been a very good dinner."

-- Duncan Hines

To reply, replace "meatloaf" with "cox"