Carne asada is not a crime

That's the rallying cry behind Save Our Taco Trucks,  online boosters of the mobile eateries, whose drivers will be limited by a new city law to one-hour stops. Some owners plan to ignore the law. Others worry they'll be driven - literally - out of business. The Save Our Taco Trucks campaign wants signatures for its online petition to:

"send Gloria Molina and the L.A. Board of Supervisors a message that we cherish our local vendors and don’t want to see them move away. This new law needs to be repealed!"

Less visible in the Great Taco Skirmish of '08 are the restaurant owners who navigate a difficult and detailed permit process, only to watch their businesses sit empty because a vendor has parked next door. Tacos and politics - this one's not going away very soon.

--Veronique de Turenne

Photo: Genaro Molino / Los Angeles Times

Comments

[Rollin' Phat]

These rolling bacteria distributors SHOULD be closed down. Why a different set of rules for them, as opposed to brick and mortar restaraunts? CLOSE THEM DOWN, and send them to a REAL place to eat.

[Abhi Buch]

It is interesting to note that mobile food vendors and even small food carts are very much a part of the urban scene in most European cities. American tourists actually enjoy the variety and low price these little mobile eateries offer, and several tourist accounts list them as "cute" and "charming." But, strangely, something changes when it comes to their towns back in the U.S.A.
The L.A.City Council proposal to keep such mobile food vendors "on the move" to protect established restaurants is counter-productive. I do not think it is the mobile vendor who takes business away from the "fixed" eateries, as much as the greater price difference between food items offered. I have seen restaurants thriving on busy Singapore streets, side by side with vendor-wagons and food carts. All it takes is quality food at affordable prices to bring clientele, especially family groups with children, into an establishment. The City Council should not tilt the economic and business balance in favor of the fixed-site establishments. I have noted that, dspite the woderful outdoor opportunities and beach-front promenades in Santa Barbara, the high food prices at available restaurants in the area force visitors to go as far as Santa Maria to eat dinner at parking-lot set ups of the famous Santa Maria Barbeque carts. Even the extra miles driven does not deter the visitors, especially if they are in a large family group or if they are North-bound on U.S.101 anyway. L.A. is definitely going about this the wrong way. Food carts and mobile vendors bring in foot traffic, and this benefits everyone. Ensenada, down the Baja California coast, is a good example of how both these ways of serving the hungry public can work together. A proposed plan to limit food-carts in that southern City was shouted down at a recent public-input council meeting by members of the public who felt they would, ultimately, be the losers. Good lesson for L.A. to learn! .

[Good Riddance]

Abhi Buch compares the food trucks in L A to those in Ensenada -- that's exactly the image many want to avoid here, some Third World country with no sanitation or other standards. The food there may be tasty, but it's probably using some old grease, unclean utensils and bad water or no running water at all, just a cook wiping things down with a greasy cloth... Smell in the streets from waste dumped out. The filth I've seen all over Mexico outside of the better restaurants is unbelievable, and I've seen Japanese tourists in particular, cover up their noses as they walk the back streets of Ensenada and TJ, while other locals happily dine away.

We've got a strict code for restaurants, A- D rankings, where something like water not being hot enough can mean a shut down for days. It's very expensive to open a restaurant and meet min. wage laws, sanitary rules, etc. - it's unfair and bad for consumers to have these roach coaches breaking all the rules.

Although they're more concerned with sanitation than in Mexico, favorites like the hot dogs wrapped in bacon, fried in old grease and sitting around for a while in a truck with no water, pose heatlth hazards. Those little push-carts can be downright deadly. YEs, I know they also have them in NYC to sell the famous hot dogs and pretzels, Hari Krishna food, etc. -- but they're often checked there and have to operate under certain rules. Plus grabbing a quick bite for a couple of bucks appeals to people who don't have time for a restaurant or want a meal. And yes, maybe want to save money in a very expensive food city. They seem more charming than dirty -- depends on the context and sanitary conditions.

Some of these carts/ trucks might be okay next to parks etc., as long as they also pick up customers' litter, but if restaurants oppose them on their street they should get priority over the trucks, which then have to find someplace else.

[Eva One]

I think the taco trucks should stay! they make EAST LA!!

and has anyone bothered to research if some of those empty restaurants you talk about aren't empty simply because of mediocre food, bad and slow service, and no marketing???? no, posi! check the facts and interview those small businesses that don't wanna have a monopoly on the East LA comida scene.

[Karen]

Save the taco trucks! I don't have time during my lunch break to sit down and order food, so I don't agree with those who say that taco trucks take business away from restaurants. Furthermore, taco trucks are legitimate enterprises that have the right to compete in the marketplace, and putting them out of business would not only create more unemployment, but deprive our city of its unique local culture. Local government is supposed to improve our city, not make it worse. Stop this abuse of power and save the taco trucks!!

[HollyG]

Good Riddance and Rollin' Phat: Taco Trucks are subject to llicensing, taxation and health inspections on the A-D ranking scale, just like brick and mortar restaurants. The only difference is there is no dining room. Less overhead means more money for FRESH, HEALTHY ingredients, as well as savings passed on to the taco truck patron. In a city with a dichotomous reputation for both sprawl and sky-rocketing rent, what is there not to love about the compact, efficient, and mobile taco truck? Why don't you give it a try? I recommend starting with Taco Zone on Alvarado between Sunset and Glendale in Echo Park. It's divine.

[A mex-foreigner]

Its a long time since I've in LA, now it seems Taco Trucks are some kind of folklore, an element telling about LA (Latin American) people. They're a heritage from the Mexican walkway 'taquerias', but far less filthy.

Let them do their business and offer other delights such as 'gorditas', 'flautas', 'enchiladas', 'sopes', 'tostadas', 'tortas' and even 'Sonora hotdogs', 'avocado burguers' and 'jalapeño pizzas'. Let construction workers have their 'chorizo' and 'chicharron' morning tacos, and if they have a strong stomach, some 'tamales' with 'atole'. Morning sleeplessers may request 'menudo', 'mondongo, or 'pozole' soups. Other may want 'quesadillas' with no cheese, or 'nana' and 'maciza' tacos, or just a delicious 'cholesterol' champ such as 'bocoles'. Don't skip the 'aguas frescas'. Choose each single zone's delicacies, from Tijuana thru Merida, from Matamoros thru Tapachula, you'll discover all them fit in a truck!

Finally, don't worry about E. Colli, Streptococci and Salmonellas, they are interesting condiments. Keep Taco Trucks working, not running!

[agricanto]

What's New York without the pretzel vendors and the summer snowcones? What's London without subway musicians? Mexico DF and its fire eaters?, New Orleans and Baltimore without African American cart pushers selling traditional local foods?

This whole anti-taco truck thing is based on the myth that the most marginal vendor is hurting the establsihed business. Where's the data? They have been in LA as long as I can remember. And the ones clamoring for eradication can't hide their bigotry and suburban view of the city with germaphobia going full on and conecpts like "let's clean it up" So what do we do?, make all LA look like a well policed mall in Mission Viejo? yikes. if you love the 'burbs move there, but don't make the city what it aint.

krikey, y'all oughta take a deep breath and eat a good "taco de birria con un refresco de horchata"

[Retired LA County Health Inspector]

I would like to give you some reasons why Gloria Molina’s legislation is actually a very good thing. First, I should tell you that I spent 7 years working as County of Los Angeles Health Inspector, so my perspective is based mainly on what I witnessed first hand with too many of these taco trucks.

Taco trucks are classified as Mobile Food Facilities. Key word being mobile. Their historical and original purpose was to prepare food and bring it to the workers who did not have enough of a lunch break to travel to a restaurant and sit down and eat. They would travel from one location to another, typically spending an hour or less at any single location. However, the historical aspect doesn’t really matter anymore. If these mobile food facilties (Taco Trucks as you call them, Catering Trucks as they are most often called by the Health Department, and Roach Coaches by many of the workers who eat off of them) want to park at one location and not move, who does that hurt you ask, right? Let’s explore that.

As a former health inspector, one of the most common complaints we received is by restaurant owners, usually struggling restaurant owners who have their entire family’s life saving invested in a moderately successful traditional restaurant (restaurants like La Fogata, Dos Arbolitos, Perla del Mar and hundreds of others that most of you have never heard of) have their business stolen by Taco trucks. These owners build a good business, create a great family atmosphere, and sure enough, very soon you have at least one, if not two Taco Trucks parked right outside of their establishment, taking business from the restaurant. Why would anyone walk inside of a restaurant and pay $2.50 (or even $1.75) for aTaco when you can get one outside for $1? A single Taco Truck can bury a struggling restaurant at anytime. Without warning, like a mosquito, they can show up during the busiest time, on the busiest night, and steal literally thousands of dollars from the restaurant. Some might say “Well tough, they weren’t as smart as the taco truck owner, he bought a vehicle and he can park it anywhere he wants.” This is not true. There is already a law on the books limiting the distance it can park from a restaurant, and time a truck can stay in any one place. It is not typcially enforced because the Police don’t have the time to chase a taco truck away, but the law is already there. I honestly can’t remember if it is a State law, a Vehicle Code for catering vehicles, or what, its been more than 5 years since I was health inspector. So, the first question I ask, is it fair to the equally hardworking restaurant owner to have his business so easily stolen? My opinion is No.

Another major reason why I feel Taco Trucks in front of restaurants is so unfair is that Taco Trucks get many breaks that Restaurant owners do not. A cost of a Food Facilities Health Permit is based on the number of seats within that Food Facility. I am not sure why they choose that method, but they did. When I was inspecting, if you had a restaurant with 0-9 seats, the permit was $359 a year. 10-49 seats was $429, and 50-150 seats was $524. A Mobile Food Facility has no seats, so it paid (I think) $247 a year. (I’m sure the fees are higher now for both restaurants and catering trucks). What is fair about that? Well, it would be fair if the mobile food facilities fulfilled their historical role, and were truly mobile, bringing food to construction workers, field workers, industrial workers. But is it fair when that owner parks his truck that cost him $60,000 to $120,000 with his $247 permit in front of a restaurant that cost the owner $300,000 to $750,000 to buy, $5,000 to $10,000 to remodel, and pay’s permit fees nearly doublt that of the Taco Truck? Again, my opinion is No.

How about the taco truck owners that DON’T park in front of a restaurant? Well, I applaud those guys (and girls) for not taking advantage of other hard working restaurant owners. However, perhaps the single biggest issue involving Taco Trucks is the fact that approximately 80% of them are not permitted at all. I personally believe that number is a little higher than 80%, but right now it is estimated at 80%. We’ve all seen them, the taco truck that really arent even a taco truck. Instead, now someone takes a trailer, puts some cooking equipment in it (sometimes just a barbecue they set on the street while they cook), throws a neon sign on it, and as soon as the sun goes down (and the Health Inspectors are home and getting ready for bed) hundreds of “Taco Trucks” pop up. You see them on Sepulveda, Van Nuys, Laurel Canyon, York, Soto, Garvey, Atlantic, Crenshaw, Venice, Baldwin, it doesn’t matter what street, hundreds, actually thousands of illegal, unapproved, never inspected Taco Trucks selling who knows what to anyone with a dollar or two. Is the food good? Maybe. Do we know? Of course not. So now you have literally thousands of illegal taco trucks who don’t pay taxes, don’t pay for permits, hide from the inspections, do not meet minimum health standards, and run the risk of poisoning hundreds of Angelinos with E-coli, Salmonella, Botulism, Trichinosis, and a hundred other diseases that can actually kill you. By comparison, when a restaurant is suspected in causing a “Foodborne Illness Outbreak” (multiple person food poisoning), an extremely detailed inspection occurs, catching nearly every health code violation in the restaurant, and also tracking the source of the food as far back as possible. Remember recently when the spinach was pulled from the shelves in all markets in the US about 6 months ago? They finally tracked that outbreak to the actual farm the spinach was grown, then it was tracked even further to the section of the land that spinach came from). How can you track down a foodborne illness from a taco truck without a permit, without any records of where he purchased his food (if he purchased it at all, in some cases unapproved and uninspected livestock is used in these illegal Taco Trucks) and any even any knowledge of who owns the truck, and no way to contact him or her? I understand that it may be hard to believe that 80% (or more) of the taco trucks out there are illegal, but after 6PM, the majority of Taco Trucks you see have never been inspected and don’t have a permit. They don’t pay taxes. Their food may be safe and healthy, or it may not. The point is that there is no way to know. Some of you may think that the Health Department should do something about this! I agree! And they do. The Vehicle Inspection Program, the group that actually inspects approved vehicles and confiscates illegal vehicles does on average 2-4 “Sweeps” per month. I have worked these sweeps. We would get about 15 inspectors, 5 police officers (for those times people don’t want to just let you peacefully confiscate their unapproved food after they paid for it), and we would attempt to hit a bad section of every city if LA County. 2 interesting things happen when we start a sweep. Within 2 hours we have confiscated literally hundreds of pounds of illegal food items, and also hundreds of Mobile Food Facilties mysteriously scatter, only to come back as soon as the coast is clear. Sometimes we would stay out just to prevent them from coming back immediately. But it is a losing battle. What’s interesting is that for all of the illegal vehicles and food preparation equipment that is seized, instead of being detroyed, the county auctions it off. So not long after it is confiscated, it is quickly back on the street contributing to the problem all over again.

For those Taco Truck owners who do the right thing, they get their permits, they don’t park within 1,000 feet of any real restaurant to steal their business, and they work hard, God Bless them. They have their own disadvantages because they are doing it honestly, getting inspected, complying with the law, paying their taxes. But they also have many advantages over the restaurant owner. If business is bad, they can go find a new location in a day. If that doesn’t work, another new location. And if another truck comes and competes vigoursly for their business, they can simply go find a new corner. If they are smart, they can work a route where they go from industrial park to industrial park and do pretty well. Restaurant owners are at the mercy of their reputation, and the neighborhood they are in. If an owner is struggling, and Taco Truck pulls up and takes his business, he may lose everything. The restaurant owners and the Taco Truck owners both have it tough. It is just my opinion, but I believe there are already way too many Taco Trucks in LA County. If a special permit was issued, allowing those taco trucks that apply for a certain area to be statiionary for a day, I would have no problem with that. Perhaps the county could develop some sort of method for having trucks apply for special permits. If so, I hope they limit these to a very small number, and that the police actively enforce the law confiscating those who do not (the Police/Sheriff are now more responsible in this battle, but they ignore it completely). But as it is now, Taco Trucks should not be allowed to park wherever, open shop, and take business from restaurant owners who can’t get away with not having a permit, not following health standards, not buying food from approved vendors (which means paying slightly more), without having lower permit fees, without having larger staff, and cleaner facilities, and buying more equipment. They are both tough businesses, but without supporting the people who do it the right way, this society will go in reverse. We have to support the restaurant owner, and also the taco truck owners who follow the law. Right now, most truck owners do not. DO they already move their vehicles? No. Do they already stay 1,000 feet away from restaurants? No? Do they pay for permits, get inspected, and keep their truck clean? Most do not.

The laws are in place to keep it as fair as possible for everyone. Sure if you own a taco truck you probably disagree. But I don’t own a taco truck. I don’t own a restaurant. I don’t have any friends that do. I don’t have any real interest on either side. I just know, from experience, that the people who are doing it right are getting screwed the worst by the people who are not doing it right. I don’t like that. Just like I don’t like anyone who doesn’t register their car, or have a drivers license, or don’t have car insurance. They hit somebody, and they don’t care. Who get’s screwed? The people who did it right. We just can’t allow that.

[vex]

Hey business owners,
If you're so upset about the taco trucks parking outside of your establishment, why don't you buy yourself a truck and park it outside your own restaurant? Then you'll have captured *both* markets.

People vote with their feet and their wallets. If you're not providing the service the people want, your establishment will sit empty.

I don't see the new law solving the issue. There's still not going to be enough enforcement personnel to oversee the entire culture of the taco truck.

Carne Asada is not a crime!