It seems after watching the full discussion on the proposed food truck regulations (Public Services Meeting, FF: 44:00-notice supporting PDF documents are missing-imagine that!?), the simplest way to fix the problem (that really doesn’t exist) is to eliminate the ordinance that mobile food vendors can’t park on the public right-of-way. Which is kind of ironic, because they all do it currently, but who complains while filling their face with shrimp jumbalaya or fried pirogies at 2:15 AM while on a drunk bender?
The proposed distances, permitting fees, hours of operation are just an attempt by brick and mortar restaurants downtown to chase the mobile vendors out. Which is ironic, because it wouldn’t ban the food ‘carts’ or the pizza places from delivering to you DT (which is competition with them also).
Everybody should know, the best way DT restaurants can eliminate their competition is by getting a city fire hydrant to explode and fill a basement restaurant with 2 feet of water while it takes our Fire Department over an hour to shut down the hydrant. Then blame ‘God’ for why it happened.
Never mind about all that JAZZ . . . because once again the city is influenced by the affluent trying to to make DT more of a yuppie-wealthy playground.
The success of DT will be diversity not exclusiveness and more regulations on eatery choices will NOT help DT to thrive. I want more choices then the senior citizen salad bar or the overpriced steaks justified by the $20,000 aqua green couch that every newlywed needs to have their portrait on.
Sometimes I just want loose meat and onion juices dripping out of my drunk ass mouth.
The snobbery around the proposed code regulations are obvious, and you are not even fooling pizza delivery drivers.
Change the public right-of-way ordinance, and move on already. We have enough D-Bags that hang out DT that think they are important, let’s flush them out with one ‘Taco in a Bag’ at a time.
Interesting.
Isn’t all the outdoor seating at restaurants on both Phillips and Main Avenues in the public right of way?
All of this seating is sitting on property owned by the TAXPAYERS!
It is NOT property owned by the restaurants!!!!
I call that PUBLIC right of way.
Well put!
The real joke here is that when you consider that most of these food trucks do their prime business when DT businesses are closed, the food trucks aren’t even competition. Lunch isn’t an issue since the city will never let them park on Phillips during the day. Is Minerva’s going to start staying open until 3 a.m. with a menu that doesn’t cater strictly to prom attendees and the almost dead? What’s the issue here?
Why does Chicago have a hot dog cart on every street corner? Why do other cities have ‘Roach Coach’ stops on streets and in parking lots? Isn’t every pizza delivery a violation of food service?
The city could find itself a defendant in a major class action lawsuit. They’ll need another 10 employees in the city attorneys office and twice as many REAL lawyers contracted privately. Anything goes while the case rides for 4 years. Then drop it and refile for another 4 years of unregulated taco trucks.
If the city hopes to revive and businesses survive downtown, you must attract the population (all of us). There could always be fine dining and outside umbrella tables. There will be more of this market when there are more people downtown looking for a place to hang. Street vendors and (maybe) entertainment will be a draw. I’m thinking the city council could Don some makeup and baggy pants to bring their mime talent to the streets from city hall.
Oooo! Here comes a L3wis cartoon of the council at Carnegie with white faces doing the invisible glass routine.
If I were able to hang around downtown, the food trucks are probably the only food places I could afford to patronize.
Scott, are you telling us that Touch of Europe will not re-open?