They are coming for your food trucks

Ricewood BBQ on opening day, 2016. Photo by Ed Vielmetti.

Gentle reader, the City is on a real tear. First they passed their bogus, and likely illegal, Flag and Seal ordinance. Then, they stole all the Bird Scooters. Now they are coming after the food trucks. Local food truck patron, Ed Vielmetti, came across this proposed ordinance regulating food trucks that will make its way to the Ordinance Review Committee of the Planning Commission on 9/25. In its current form, this ordinance would essentially eliminate food trucks in most of the city.

Here are some highlights:

(1) The mobile food vending service shall not be located in any required setback, any sight distance triangle, or required buffer. Mobile food vendors may be allowed in any office (O) commercial and industrial districts and the parking district. Mobile food vendors shall be prohibited in any residential district and the D1 and D2 districts.

...

(8) There shall be a minimum 200-foot separation from any residential use or residentially zoned district. This measurement shall be taken from the property line to property line at the closest point.

So basically the ordinance would only allow food trucks (and food carts) in areas zoned Office, Commercial, Industrial or Parking, but only in places that are more than 200ft from a residential area. This means goodbye to our beloved Ricewood in its current location. More importantly, it would ban food trucks in most Office, Commercial, Industrial, and Parking zoned parcels. Gentle reader, I have not heard a lot of complaints about food trucks, have you? I asked a concerned citizen about this potential ordinance and they shared this with me "I’ve never once heard someone say they’re glad there are no food trucks downtown, and literally hundreds of pleas for them to be there." Here's my question, where is this push to restrict food trucks coming from?