Some taco carts will likely be closing down due to new Salt Lake City law
Taco cart patrons react to the new law that will likely cause popular taco stands to go out of business.
Taco carts will be required to provide toilet facilities for their employees or they will not be able to renew their vending cart permits. So said the Salt Lake City Council in their motion passed unanimously Tuesday evening September 4th, 2007. Taco cart lisences are renewed on a yearly basis so for vendors such as Juillio Calderon, (interviewed from previous story) will almost certainly need to move again.
 |
The Salt Lake City Council unanimously passes a new law to restrict taco cart vendors on Main Street |
|---|
This could also mean the end to all carts surrounding the Sears parking lot. In order for those carts to remain Sears would need to grant permission to the taco carts for their customers and workers to use their bathroom facilities. This is highly unlikely considering the past complaints Sears has made concerning the mess taco carts leave behind as they use their parking lot.
Both Sean Harris, owner of Steve Harris Imports and Michael Holt, CEO of Western Wholesale Flooring spoke out in the City Council meeting about the problems the taco carts have caused to their facilities. Holt mentioned in our prior interview that he regularly is cleaning up defication left by patrons and merchants in his back alley. "Just yesterday, I had to clean up an awfull mess," Holt said.
When Nancy Saxon was asked why Holt's previous complaints fell on deaf ears in the Council, she said that this was a very sensative issue and that they considered his complaints to be unfair and possibly racially motivated. "But when we went over there, we saw with our own eyes the huge mess that they were in fact creating...Then we realized that this was a mistake," said Saxon in our discussion after the City Council meeting.
A mistake that is much more difficult to reverse than it would have been to stop the taco carts in the first place. When questioned why they would ever decide to extend the cart boundry South of 600 South, Saxon explained: "They were actally already starting to operate there [illegally] before we changed the law." Saxon noted that Council Members were pressured to an extent to pass the law for fear of seeming uncaring towards taco carts and immigrants. Now the carts beloved by patrons around Sears will likely need to either find another place or permenently retire their carts.
 |
|---|
| According to taco cart patrons these four taco stands around Sears are an asset to the city offering a great lunch at a low price. |
|---|
(Support UtahStories.com coverage by visiting our advertisers)
if you care to leave a comment, or view opinions on this story click here.