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Taco Trucks Get the Green Light to Put On the Parking Brake
Fans of LA's ubiquitous Taco Trucks rejoice: The ordinance passed in April has been overturned, and the vittles vehicles can park and serve in unincorporated LA County to their hearts' content for more than one hour at a time.
Yesterday in LA County Superior Court a judge overturned the controversial law. According to the LA Times:
The language of the ordinance, Judge Dennis A. Aichroth said, was "vague" and therefore "unconstitutional" in its description of how quickly a vendor could return to an area where the truck was previously parked. Aichroth said it also violated the vehicle code because county supervisors had not properly established that it was written in the interest of public safety.
The law angered not only the taco truck owners and operators, but the many customers who counted on and appreciated the trucks for their fast and reliable food. Although the City of Los Angeles was not a part of the law, East LA, an area known for its many taco trucks, was included. (In fact, the first truck to be hit with a fine once the law went into effect was in East LA.) Under the law, if trucks remained parked in one location for over an hour they were ticketed and fined up to $1,000 and owners potentially faced a six-month jail term. The backlash was widespread, from C. Thi Nguyen, senior editor of Chow Digest at chowhound.com, deeming the threat to the taco trucks "a cultural disaster" to the movement initiated by SaveOurTacoTrucks.org, who gathered signatures and even sold t-shirts promoting support for the tacos-on-wheels.
So go get your tacos, Angelenos, and know that your favorite truck can stay put and serve you what you love. Haven't done the truck thing before? Use our Basic Guide to LA Taco Trucks to get you started.
Photo by Marshall Astor - Food Pornographer via the LAist Featured Photos pool on Flickr
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