Imagine Food Trucks on every street corner? Imagine the investment it would generate! The employment! The taxes! Boston got the right approach. What's Wusta got?
Remember the Hot Dog Vendors fiasco from 2008? (This T&G article is a must read). Again, Blame the City Council for hindering economic expansion in near destitute Worcester. Um... I'm already getting a funny feeling about this idea. Maybe the wannbe foodtruck owners should incorporate as non-profits, hire the councilor's relatives. Bing, ordinance passed!
I lifted this from the Boston Globe Opinion section:
Food Trucks: Innovation at the curbside: In many major cities, food trucks have provided sparks of culinary innovation and small-business commerce, particularly in immigrant communities. In Boston, a sprawling regulatory apparatus has prevented the trucks from taking hold, since operators need to get licenses from a variety of police, fire, inspectional, and transportation officials, among others.
A newly proposed City Council ordinance would streamline the process, creating up to 25 “one-stop’’ licenses that bundle the necessary requirements in a reasonable way. The city should pass this ordinance — and it should also increase the number of licenses.
Runaway proliferation of food trucks is a valid concern. During a visit to Los Angeles, where the food-truck business is relatively free-wheeling, City Councilor Salvatore LaMattina saw one street where 27 food trucks got in the way of other businesses and even traffic signals. But Boston is far from that point, and until food trucks fully take hold the city should focus on setting well thought-out rules — and then consider offering licenses to any entrepreneur who meets the requirements. It’s a pro-business, pro-consumer, and pro-palate policy.
