Read this Toronto Star Article about the red tape Toronto City cart vendors have been dealing with.
TheStar Yum: Tastier street eats, without the red tape
I don't understand why the city can't just charge entrepreneur city vendors a location permit fee and let them come up with a method of cooking their own ethnic food.. I mean really if a guy wants to stand on the street with a BBQ and roast some corn does he really need a $30,000. cart for that.
It doesn't take away from the restaurants at all. If you are a single person in a rush to get from destination to destination and can grab a quick bite from a food cart on the run it's a much better option than only being able to get a hot dog. Case in point. Yesterday I went to a film festival and didn't want to spend a half an hour getting a sit down meal so I just grabbed a hot dog on the way to the theatre. I would have liked to have another option besides a hot dog. When I went to Salt Lake City, Utah I saw at least one or 2 guys that had carts that sold Tacos and other mexican style food. Does a person need to spend $50,000 to serve nachos and salsa and such foods?
These carts are great for tourism as well. Toronto is supposed to be a multicultural city with a diverse group of ethnic areas so why can't we have street vendors that reflect that. Some of these street cart people are the greeters to tourists in the city. To the Toronto City Councillors.. give these people a break and they will pay you back in taxes paid from money earned and increased tourism dollars... Win WIN...
I happen to know the Executive Director of the Vending cart association, she is also an actor and also sells jewellery and I am sure she does other things to make a living. We had a long conversation one day about the limitations of being able to provide variety in foods available on these carts. She shouldn't have to work 3 different jobs just to survive. She should be able to make a living selling whatever food works for her to earn money from her cart and be able to survive on that.
I am sure if you did a poll with the people that live in Toronto if they wanted variety in these street carts and having more of them around I am sure the answer would be YES we want MORE!.
http://streetfood.org/index.php?option=content&task=view&id=40&Itemid=47
I totally agree with you Linda. It's really sad that all that is available in terms of street food is hot dogs. Boring! If you've ever watch Anthony Bourdain traveling through Asia, he claims the best food to eat is the mom and pop food vendors on the streets.
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