Thread: Taco Trucks ( Raleigh Update)

Taco Crime Blotter Volume 1 No. 2


Okay, so the editors here told me I could write about anything related to crime in the greater Los Angeles area and it did not have to be related to tacos in any way, shape, or form. But look what fell into my lap while I was surfing the LAPD blog this morning:

At 2:05 in the morning on July 22, 2006, Eric Salvador, 26, and his cousin, Efrain Martinez, 27-years-old, were eating at a taco stand (ed. Perhaps La Canada Taqueria, specializing in mariscos?) in the 3100 block of West Pico Boulevard. A male Hispanic by the name of Edgar Suchite, 35, saunters into the stand and begins yelling at the pair, as well as other patrons.

Without warning, Edgar shoots Salvador in the chest. Martinez runs to the aid of his cousin, and ****head Edgar turns his piece in that direction, blasting him in the arm and chest. Martinez is a tough customer, though, and we’re not talking about being picky about the cilantro in his tacos. No, the wounded Martinez, along with other patrons, chased Edgar through the Pico-Union neighborhood, caught him, and detained him until the police arrived.

Both Salvador and Martinez were transported to Cedars Sinai Medical Center where, sadly, they later died from their injuries.

Edgar Suchite faces two counts of murder and is being held on $2,000,000 bail.

A strange kind of satisfaction that must have been for Martinez, to chase down and detain the man who murdered you and your cousin. Edgar Suchite will have a long time to contemplate the morbid absurdity that put him where he belongs.

This entry was written

Save | E-mail | Print
Aug 17, 2006 7:07 pm US/Pacific

Lodi: Taco Trucks On Verge Of Extinction
A New Lodi City Ordinance Is Forcing Mobile Food Vendors To Put Their Business In "Park"
(CBS 13) LODI Lodi city leaders may see the local taco trucks as a nuisance, but to the drivers it's serious business.

After many complaints, a new Lodi city ordinance will require mobile food vendors to keep away from busy intersections and schools and to top it off, the trucks will be forced to move every 10 minutes.

Already five mobile food vendors have been shut down, and the city is estimating that in two weeks all of the trucks will be out of business.

(© MMVI, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved

http://www.c









--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Posted on Sat, Aug. 19, 2006



Raleigh rules force taco trucks to find new spots

RYAN TEAGUE BECKWITH
The News & Observer of Raleigh

RALEIGH, N.C. - Roberto Portillo would like to sell more tacos, but he needs something that is increasingly hard to find in Raleigh: A parking spot.

Under city regulations, lunch trucks like Portillo's Taqueria Guerrero are severely limited on where they can set up shop.

Like other North Carolina cities, Raleigh prohibits trucks from selling food on city streets and in residential neighborhoods. But it also outlaws sales for more than a short period of time at any commercial site smaller than a major shopping center.

Portillo says the rules have made it hard to find a good spot.

"A business needs to be seen by people," he said, after finishing a shift at a flea market parking lot on Capital Boulevard on a recent Saturday. "If they don't want us in an area where people can see us, it's going to be hard to make a business."

The rules have led to something of a culture clash between City Hall and the Hispanic business owners who run the lunch trucks, known as loncheras.

Long popular in Latin America and in U.S. cities in the Southwest, loncheras are essentially tiny, mobile restaurants that serve tacos made with corn tortillas and other authentic Mexican and Latin American dishes.

With Wake County's Hispanic population more than doubling over the past five years to around 70,000, loncheras have become a profitable niche business.

At least three dozen lunch trucks that specialize in Mexican food are operating in Wake, according to county restaurant permits. Most hopscotch among construction sites on weekdays.

But a few have expanded to serve the crowds outside nightclubs popular among Hispanics and weekend crowds at soccer games, among other places.

That has led to clashes with police and zoning inspectors. As a result, some lonchera owners say they feel like the city is harassing them. City administrators say they're just responding to calls from upset residents.

"We get complaints from citizens about these places setting up and causing traffic problems and trash and things of that nature," said Larry Strickland, the city's inspections director.

Waverly Smith of Raleigh is one such resident. The retired engineer said he was bothered by trucks serving food on Atlantic Avenue late at night. He thinks the trucks are unsanitary and lead to crowds of people hanging out after hours.

"If they're going to run a taco place, they could easily go rent a storefront," he said.

Smith, who is a member of the Northeast Raleigh Citizens Advisory Council, complained to the Raleigh police and the planning department, which regulates where food trucks can operate. Last year, they began a crackdown on loncheras.

Inspectors used a city code that restricts mobile food vendors from selling at a given spot for more than 20 days in a year.

In March 2005, they cited Victor Campos, owner of a Latino grocery store in Raleigh. The year before, he bought a $100,000 truck in California, got a business license and a restaurant permit and began selling tacos from the parking lot, according to his testimony to the city's Board of Adjustment.

Campos later said he did not realize that the city restricted where he could park.

When he received the citation, Campos complained that his business was being unfairly singled out. He argued that the hot dog stands that run year-round in front of home improvement stores Lowe's and Home Depot were also in violation.

Inspectors then ticketed the hot dog stands, which are owned by Specialty South Food Services. The company hired Raleigh attorney Dave Permar, who also represented Campos, to lobby the city to relax the rules.

It did - in a way that allowed the hot dog stands, but not the loncheras.

The new rules allow mobile food stands at a site year-round if they are less than 10 feet long, within 25 feet of a building, closed by 11 p.m., and on a property that is at least 2 1/2 acres - enough to accommodate Lowe's and other big-box retailers.

Loncheras typically do not meet any of those requirements.

Irene Gonzalez is secretary of the board of the N.C. Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, which often advises lonchera owners on permits. She said the city should hold all of the mobile food vendors to the same standard.

"I really don't think there should be a difference between a hot dog stand and a lonchera," she said.

Other North Carolina cities limit the length of time a vendor can sell at a location but do not have the same restrictions on the size of the property. In Charlotte, vendors can sell from the same location for 90 consecutive days. In Greensboro, the limit is 30 days in a row.

Both cities require sales to be from commercial properties, but neither has restrictions on the size of the lot as Raleigh does.

The new restrictions effectively put Campos out of business. He hired another lawyer to fight the city's decision in Superior Court but dropped the case in late July. Campos said he didn't want to start a political battle.

"You can't fight the city," he said. "That's why I closed it down and shut my mouth."

The city's regulations also caused Alberto Herrera to shut down a lonchera he ran for three years. He said he didn't have any problems serving food on construction sites - which don't meet the city's standards either - but the city wouldn't allow him to sell food at other locations.

"I don't know exactly what the city wanted," he said.

The size restriction did not affect Roberto Portillo's existing business, but it has hurt his plans for expansion. The Raleigh Flea Market Mall, a former shopping center, has more than 10 acres. But Portillo says that it's hard to find other places to do business.

When he tried to sell tacos from a print shop near Atlantic Avenue, he said a man claiming to be a city inspector threatened to arrest his workers. (City staff say they do not think the man, who would not show the workers ID, was actually an inspector.)

"What is the crime?" Portillo asked. "We are selling food. We are not selling drugs. We are just trying to make a business."


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Information from: The News & Observer, http://www.newsobserver.com





--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

© 2006 AP Wire and wire service sources. All Rights Reserved.
http://www.charlotte.com
harlotte.com/mld/observer/news/local/15310573.htm