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Tonight is the night they vote on banning all food trucks in Sac from setting up for over 30 minutes in one place. Man, oh man, this is gonna be bad. I know there are a lot of trucks within the city limits (does not affect those in county....so far) but the ones on Northgate, Elkhorn, Franklin all will be affected.
bennyboy1
Feb 26, 2008 05:34PM
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The ordinance passed last night. So the new rules are: No night operations and the trucks cannot stay in one place longer than 30 minutes. Bummer. This is gonna put some people out of business.
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Northgate north of I-80, Franklin between Florin and 47th Ave, and most of Elkhorn are in unincorporated Sacramento County. In most cases, just moving across the street will put the truck in the county.
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Thank goodness for that! I almost LIVE on those Northgate trucks...and the corn dude...First one to find out where they go, POST!
-jennyfur
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Do you have a link to that? It's not on the Bee. While I was searching I came across this article from the Valley View (Tulare County). Seems similar taco truck ordinance is illegal in Calif. I wonder if the vendors presented their case in front of the city council.
The following quote is from the Valley View newspaper, Tulare County:
Tulare County - After being told their proposed restrictions on mobile food vendors violate state law, Tulare County Supervisors Tuesday tabled consideration of a county ordinance and pledged to work out a plan with vendors and their attorney.
David LeBeouf, a Stockton-based lawyer who has helped several cities, including Sacramento, Stockton and Salinas, adopt regulations for vendors, told supervisors, “You can't prohibit vendors on the street.”
LeBeouf, who was contacted by local vendors late last week, and only saw the county's proposed ordinance Monday, said, “I want to go through these (proposed restrictions) one-by-one so you can write a good law.” He called laws disallowing or restricting vendors “a restraint of fair trade,” citing California Appellate Court rulings to back up his contention.
During the board's closed session, the attorney talked with reporters and several other persons, citing laws dating to 1979 and the case of Barajas vs. the City of Anaheim. The attorney said the California Vehicle Code provides that mobile vendors can not be prohibited.
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I cannot find it online either, but it is in todays Bee in the Metro section. The small story box. That is interesting, what you posted above. Due to the samll story, I have no idea bout the testimony at the Sac City Council.....
Just seems to me that taking away folks way of making money is not such a good idea right now. And cheap eats too....
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The City Council meeting items are posted on the City's website. It looks like they are not "prohibiting" street vendors, but "regulating" them instead. The City cannot ban street or mobile vendors, but it believes it can regulate their operations by limiting operation in a single location. Whether or not this is true may be decided by the courts.
With all the vacant and cheap commercial real estate in Sacramento - especially along Northgate, these guys should really open up a permanent restaurant instead. Diesel is almost $4/gallon which may make mobile trucks too expensive to run. It may also make it easier for them to sell on rainy or hot days.
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Opening up a permanent restaurant would defeat the purpose of a mobile truck that goes to where the customers are, not the other way around. How do workers on construction sites get to a restaurant for breakfast or lunch?
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If someone is driving to construction sites - which are rare these days in recessionary Sacramento - they are fine under the new ordinance, as long as they are there for less than 30 minutes. This rule will affect those that park in vacant lots from 11-1 for lunch most. Nevertheless, these vendors will have to change their business strategy to stay alive.
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These are not for the trucks that do construction and offices, but the sitting taco trucks.
And opening a restaurant would be way expensive. A truck can be had for 15 grand or so and then no rent, no inspections, no rewiring, no appliances, none of that.
That's why the same taco is 3 bucks at baja fresh and only a buck at a truck. .
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Well... before we go too far off topic - I agree that running a taco truck may be cheaper, but the City of Sacramento will now regulate them. My point is that if the product is in demand, the customers would follow it to a restaurant.
For Baja Fresh, their taco also cost $1; the advertising cost $2.
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Also, they are not being put out of business - just having to move outside city limits. If the customers choose not to follow, the customers are putting the trucks out of business. Successful businesses do not fear regulation.
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lunch trucks are mobile to follow the customers, not the other way around. How do customers, who are mostly mobile workers, follow the trucks? I take a bus to work and there's always a truck parked at the bus terminal. How do the bus drivers follow the lunch truck to wherever it moves?
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See Sacramento City Ordinance 2008-008
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Note that the vast majority of the stationary trucks serve 2nd and 3rd shift workers - cops, hospital employees, janitors and other service workers who don't have anywhere to go.
This regulation is the same kind of anti-immigrant, classist abuse we've come to expect from the Sacramento City Council; it doesn't surprise me, but what does surprise me is that half of the council refused to reply to calls & emails asking if they talked to any of the vendors, and the rest flat-out lied, telling me there were links between the trucks and crime - even when the Sacramento Police Department says quite succinctly that they have no record of any such correlation.
I talked to 8 truck operators two weeks after the resolution passed, and NONE were familiar with it or were ever told there was going to be a vote. How much do you want to bet nobody from the city council ever bothered to communicate with them?
Almost all are parked on private property with permission from the owners, and this seems illegal - how can the city tell a minimart owner that he can't have a LICENSED, INSPECTED food vendor - who already pays a fee to the city and county - on his property?
I'm not a lawyer, but similar regulations in 2 other California municipalities were thrown out as prior restraint of trade, and I don't see how this is any different.
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Los Angeles has he same type of ordinance planned right now too. hasn't passed yet, but they are trying....
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Here is a past thread on Sac trucks. Seems most of the ones listed would be affected.
http://www.chowhound.com/topics/432395
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It also looks like most of Stockton Blvd south of Fruitridge is also in the County and not affected by the ordinance.
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What a dumb ordinance! Just about as bad as the one that says fine dining establishments cannot set tables before customers arrive.
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Yeah, that one is just plain stupid. Lawmakers. This one seems to be the same to me. But then again, I am a taco trucks best customer.
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Oh, man...gotsta have my Northgate once-a-week lengua taco fix...somebody DO something! This is crazy!
-jennyfur
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The west side of Northgate north of I-80 is unincorporated county land not subject to the ordinance. It is likely that the taco trucks will move just outside of city limits to avoid the regulation. This also applies along Stockton and Franklin Boulevards.
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The city will start enforcing these regulations very soon, and if anyone is interested in presenting the City Council with a show of opposition to the new rules (and alliance with the vendors), you can sign this petition:
http://www.yumtacos.com/2008/07/petit...
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