To no one’s surprise, the food truck ordinance passed almost unanimously in today’s City Council meeting, with one nay coming from the 45th’s John Arena, who described it as “restraint of trade.”
Much has been said and written on how shitty the law is, how it doesn’t help start-up food trucks at all, but rather protects the interests of established brick and mortar restaurants. It does that, just to cite one example, by prohibiting trucks from parking withing 200 feet of those restaurants, under penalty of fines starting at $1000. Just so you know where the majority of the city’s concern lies, it isn’t with you, consumer. That’s four times the penalty of a health code violation.
But hey, now trucks can cook on board. You just won’t be able find any downtown unless it’s at one of a handful of permanent stands—not determined yet—where a couple of trucks can park for a few hours at a time.