Posted on 06/18/2007 1:39:41 PM PDT by Michael.SF.
SALINAS -- Jose Martinez left Mexico around 1988 and toiled for years in a patchwork of fields here, harvesting berries and lettuce and barely making ends meet.
In 2002, Martinez took advantage of a city law created to help novice entrepreneurs start businesses related to the city's largely Latino cultural heritage. He bought a taco truck, one of 31 licensed mobile catering vehicles in Salinas, and built it into a modestly profitable operation.
But the City Council, responding to a business group and its most vocal members -- the owners of Mexican restaurants -- is poised to vote next month on a draft ordinance to ban taco trucks and other catering vehicles from Salinas, a farm town about 120 miles south of San Francisco.
The proposed ordinance, which is still subject to revision, is the latest round in a two-year debate that some say has created a rift in this community, placing poorer Mexicans who are looking to better themselves at odds with longtime residents whose families emigrated years ago.
Salinas is not alone. Taco trucks, cultural icons and social magnets in Mexico, have become a flashpoint in at least a dozen cities in California -- including Santa Rosa, 55 miles north of San Francisco, and Gardena, 15 miles south of Los Angeles -- and in other states, such as Arizona, Oregon and Tennessee.
Restrictions are being debated in the Central Valley towns of Lathrop, Escalon and Lodi. In most cases, brick-and-mortar businesses resent the competition. Many observers say the taco truck issue illuminates far more complex dynamics, from the perils of rapid urban development to hidden resentments toward, and among, Latinos.
(Excerpt) Read more at contracostatimes.com ...
"We all love Mexico, but once you jump on a plane you leave Mexico behind," said Antonio Campos, the owner of a Mexican restaurant here. "Once you are in America, you have rules, regulations and standards."
Taco trucks "should go to the fields and feed the agriculture guys," said Campos, 29, a Salinas native of Mexican descent.
That struck me as a tad ironic, even though Campos is an American. He seems to be implying that it is OK to break the law to get here, but damn it, once you are here obey the rules!
Actually I think the restaurant owners have a right to object to these trucks. However, they should not be banned.
"Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." - Manuel II Palelologus
I should have added: I searched under “trucks” and “Taco trucks” with no results.
I’m telling you, when I was a student at UCB, there was nothing better than taking a study break at 2 am to go eat some tacos in Oakland!
My citizen neighbor drove a catering truck, but was forced to sell it last year and go into another line of business due to the cut-throat competition from the likes of Jose.
the taco truck ban is also known as the “cat preservation act of 2007”
Never, ever look inside the average Cucaracha Coach.
I can’t believe they are worried about competition from cucaracha coaches. I actually had this idea about 6 years ago after watching something similar at a work site. I have legal Mex friends and I figured cook the food at night, hire some chicas to drive them, mucho dinero. But, I don’t want to support the illegals or their lifestyles so I abandoned the idea.
You mean taco trucks constitute the 102nd way to use a dead cat?
We've got them here in CO too. I like Tamales, Tacos, and Burritos but I've never been brave enough to go to one of the carts.
Roach Coaches have been on cities’ Sh*t List for years, it is only news now because most of them are run by illegals.
I’m trying to think of some way to combine buying a taco from a truck and a Darwin Award. It’s in there somewhere.
Tasty food in most cases.
But, as you say, avoid looking inside.
So how come all their customers can eat from them with no ill effects? Just eat the stuff, and stop worrying.
Wonder if those guys carry sushi.
I have been to San Onofre out in SoCAl three times for different projects. Let me chime in and say that Gaby’s is the BEST DAMN roch coach I have ever had the pleasure to dine from. Their Super Burrito (wet with jalapenos thank you) is the BOMB!!! For roach coach food anyway :^)
I don’t care about the little taco carts one way or the other, but in what universe can they justify opening a new arena of regulation since bodies aren’t accumulating in the streets like cordwood from the present unregulated situation?
Why on earth would they ban a taco truck - I thought alternative fuels were the next big thing??????
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