"Many other street food advocates pointed out that street vending isn’t just a showy way to add “vibrancy” to a city; it’s an important means to allow people on the lower rungs of the economic ladder to get a foothold in the local business community. In other words, aspiring food sellers should be able to go from owning a cart to owning a restaurant; the current ordinance requires exactly the opposite."

Metro Mag on problems with the current street vending ordinance. Via chriseats, who also has a fantastic summary of the city meeting on bringing food trucks to downtown Minneapolis.

Street vending is so close I can almost taste it! But I agree, more time is needed and a better approach should be crafted. The ordinance on the table right now is one step forward, two steps back. As much as I love Hell’s Kitchen, whose gripe with food trucks comes down to not wanting new competition, it seems to me the city should be enabling new businesses [insert obligatory especially “in times like these” comment], not just necessarily rewarding existing ones.

(via colinkloecker)