Los Altos didn't change its laws Tuesday to keep a taco truck from feeding high school students, but the idea appears to be gaining support from some council members.This is vintage stuff. The last time Los Altos set out to pass a racist ordinance like this, it nearly banned lemonade stands. Now it is considering making ice cream trucks illegal. This calls for a protest.
The city is considering a change to its municipal code that would discourage mobile unit vendors from selling food to Los Altos High School students.
One possible ordinance includes limiting to 10 minutes the amount of time a food vendor could remain in one spot during a two-hour period.
By way of background, my alma mater is an open campus with parking passes cheap enough that everyone can afford to drive his or her BMW to school. Rich kids can spend their lunch hour at Jack-in-the-Box or Maldonado's or anywhere else. Strangely, only blog whipping boy Ron Packard seems to get this.
Council Member Ron Packard said he tried out the truck's offerings and bought a burrito and taco for a bargain price of about $3 or $4. Packard said he doesn't want to be unfair to students who don't have cars and can't drive to a restaurant of their choice.Even though he's right on about this, I am having trouble picturing him hanging out by a taco truck in the back of the high school. I know that high schoolers don't vote, especially not those from other cities, but this has a sort of Dukakis-in-a-tank kind of feel to it, not to mention a George-Bush-on-a-"ranch"/Fred-Thompson-in-a-pickup-truck kind of feel).
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8 comments:
I'm shocked that you haven't commented on the claw machine situation.
Are you talking about that obscure Los Altos law making ownership of a claw machine punishable by prison time or a $30 fine? I thought it was no longer on the books.
you have a special talent for taking two wonderful things -- tacos and kissing -- and combining them to make something that seems utterly revolting.
"Street trading" (as they call it in the UK) is always difficult - unless you know the right people. And here in Aztlan, Mexicans don't know the right (white) people.
Not sure of the "kisses"
reference, but I think they refer to some fantasy of NOE's...
Ah, but the proprietor is not Mexican.
http://www.mv-voice.com/news/show_story.php?id=202
It's a less obscure reference (South Park, by the way) than Hunter S. Thompson. Moreover,
The Vietnamese don't have any more pull in Aztlan than the Mexicanos.
I was going to poll the readers to see if Aztlan or "Taco-flavored kisses" was a more obscure reference. I hope that the readers are more familiar with HST than SP...
perhaps it is long gone and the Daily News just got around to reporting on it last week.
The School Board long ago requested a joint public meeting with the Los Altos City Council, to be held at the high school, during which official actions could take place. After we agreed, I proposed that the agenda include public comment and city action on the taco truck. I was particularly interested in that item being placed on the agenda since the forum was to be the high school, where it would be easy for students to provide input. For whatever reasons, the school board later requested that the meeting instead be held at city hall. We consented. Then there was a new requirement from the school board that the proceeding not be videotaped and broadcast, contrary to our normal practice. We objected, and after some public embarrasement, the school board removed that requirment. The date for the meeting, however, keeps on being postponed by the school board.
The reason for this email is to see if your blog would have any sway in getting a group of interested students at the public hearing. The date is not firm, but I could get you a couple week's notice. I just feel if very unfair not to have the input from the involved students. I am not interested in trying to stack the deck, but want significant input from the involved students so that issues they raise can be addressed live by the school board. that process would allow the city council to make an informed decision.
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