City's Food Trucks Working to Get City to Change Rules

Yesteday's Times-Pic featured a fairly in-depth investigation by Richard Thompson into the byzantine rules that regulate how food trucks operate in the City of New Orleans. Basically, the city regulations treat food trucks as the same is they treat snowball trucks and mobile produce vendors like Mr. Okra. And for all of those different types of trucks and carts and things, there are only 100 permits. That have to be renewed every year. And food trucks technically can't sit in one spot for more than 30 minutes, nor can they operate in the CBD or (technically) after 7PM. It's all kinds of ridiculous.

But Thompson talks to Henry Pulitzer, operator of the Geaux Plates food truck, which frequently hangs out at Dos Jefes on Tchoupitoulas. Pulitzer and other operators are working to get the city to change all of these ridic rules "by increasing the number of permits issued, extending the time a truck can stay in one spot, and expanding hours of operation," as well as by opening up the CBD and changing the restrictions around how close trucks can be to brick-and-mortar restaurants.

All of which would be good steps, because then New Orleans would actually be an attractive place for people to open up food trucks. And more food trucks means more food and more variety. Which would be awesome.

· Food Truck Operators are Hoping for a Change in City Regulations [TP]