Thanks to some observant posters and our friends over at californiatacotrucks.com, we’ve been made aware of the first victim of GloMo’s new persecution of our beloved trucks. Alejandro Valdovino’s was cited for not moving his truck, La Flor de Sahuayo, from in front of his own restaurant. Mr. Valdovino has been charged with a misdemeanor and is facing a maximum $1,000 fine and/or 6 months in jail. The defenders of the new law have largely whined about trucks parking in front of their restaurants and poaching their business. Unless Mr. Valdovino complained about himself to the sheriff, I’m not sure exactly what the logic is behind this action. I am out of town for the weekend and won’t be able to look at the neighborhood until Sunday at the earliest, but in looking at Google Street View, the only businesses that seem to be even remotely in competition with La Flor de Sahuayo are a bakery, gas station store, and a run-down delicatessen. We’ll check it out soon and publish the contact information for any restaurants in the direct vicinity. Feel free to phone them and let them know that they can’t anonymously hide behind Mrs. Molina and have the sheriff push their competition out of business.
What else can we do? Well, the District 2 Board of Supervisor’s seat is up for grabs as Yvonne Burke (who voted in favor of this law) is retiring. We’ve contacted all the candidates involved and so far Dr. Delaney Smith and Antonio Alvarez have responded indicating various degrees of support for the trucks. (Mr. Alvarez’s was by far the most energetic). We’ll keep you updated, but we are tentatively promoting these two candidates as running a pro-taco campaign.
On the other end of the spectrum appears to be Bernard Parks. Parks is currently a member of the city council and previously served as chief of the LAPD. Seeing as his campaign statement boasts of endorsements Burke and Molina, Parks appears to be aligning himself with the status-quo and what we jokingly refer to around here as “big-taco”.
We should also note that we had been getting anecdotal evidence of increasing harassment in the city of Los Angeles. On Thursday, after the Zocalo event that will be aired on KPCC Sunday night, we saw it with our own eyes. The organizers arranged for a taco truck to serve free food to the audience afterwards. A local business complained and the LAPD showed up and gave the truck 15 minutes to move. The only restaurant I saw in the area was Mariscos Ensenada on Spring St., but he was closing. Pay attention as a day without a taco truck is approaching sooner than later.
La Flor de Sahuayo
4601 E. Olympic Blvd
Ξ May 22nd, 2008 | → Comments Off on “Remember the Taco Truck!” Zocalo LA | ∇ Uncategorized |
Chris will be on the panel tonight with LA Weekly food critic Jonathan Gould, USC professor and author Barry Glassner, truck owner Miriam Torres, and Chow Hound’s C. Thi Nguyen to discuss the legislation and uncertain future of LA’s wheeled eateries. Go to their website for more info as seeting is free but a reservation is required.
http://www.zocalola.org/
Ξ May 17th, 2008 | → Comments Off on T-Shirts! | ∇ Uncategorized |
*NEW DESIGNS AVAILABLE – See Below*
Due to popular demand, we’re selling T-Shirts to help you spread the good word. The first batch has finally arrived and looks awesome! Order one today for just $15 (plus shipping). Go to our store so you can be the first at Leo’s to be seen wearing your new threads.
New: Check out our CafePress store for more designs and products, including hats and stickers.
Don’t forget to sign the petition if you haven’t already done so!
DUE TO EXTREMELY HIGH VOLUME AT TIMES, LOADING MAY BE SLOW…
Please be patient. Try refreshing the page if it does not load.
You may contact us if you are having trouble and we will add your name to the list.
Thanks to your overwhelming support, we have had to expand the petition to a FIFTH page. Sign below and join the over 8000 other supporters!
Led by District 1 County Supervisor Gloria Molina, the L.A. Board of Supervisors has passed new restrictions that will effectively eliminate taco trucks from our streets. Under Supervisor Molina’s new rules, taco trucks will have to change location every hour, or face a misdemeanor charge carrying a $1000 fine and/or jail. Yes, jail.
Taco Trucks are a special facet of Los Angeles, and something we don’t want to lose. Though this ordinance currently affects just unincorporated parts of L.A., that’s 65% of the County. And of course it opens up the doors for legislation closer to home too.
Let’s send Gloria Molina and the L.A. Board of Supervisors a message that we cherish our local vendors and don’t want to see them move away. This new law needs to be repealed!
Click here to SIGN THE PETITION
Ξ May 12th, 2008 | → Comments Off on Taco Libre! | ∇ Uncategorized |
*NEW:* ¡Taco Libre! shirts (and more) available exclusively at CafePress!
(A portion of all proceeds will be given back to a local East L.A. charity)
The new county ordinance against Taco Trucks goes into effect on May 15th.
On Wednesday, May14th, we’ll be celebrating one last night of freedom for the Taqueros with ¡Taco Libre!
Join us in East Los Angeles at Tacos El Galuzo, at 5555 Whittier Blvd in East Los Angeles, for a final show of support!
And of course, don’t forget to sign the petition if you haven’t already done so!
Click on the poster to download a PDF that you can print and post in your neighborhood (note: the poster is Legal size 8.5×14)!
View Larger Map
Ξ May 6th, 2008 | → Comments Off on T-Shirts! | ∇ Uncategorized |
*NEW DESIGNS AVAILABLE – See Below*
Due to popular demand, we’re selling T-Shirts to help you spread the good word. As the first batch will take roughly 7-10 business days, we’re offering them for only $15 (domestic shipping included) to thank you for your patience. Go to our store so you can be the first at Leo’s to be seen wearing your new threads.
New: Check out our CafePress store for more designs and products, including hats and stickers.
Don’t forget to sign the petition if you haven’t already done so!
Due to overwhelming support, we have had to expand the petition to a FOURTH page. Sign below and join the over 6000 other supporters!
Led by District 1 County Supervisor Gloria Molina, the L.A. Board of Supervisors has passed new restrictions that will effectively eliminate taco trucks from our streets. Under Supervisor Molina’s new rules, taco trucks will have to change location every hour, or face a misdemeanor charge carrying a $1000 fine and/or jail. Yes, jail.
Taco Trucks are a special facet of Los Angeles, and something we don’t want to lose. Though this ordinance currently affects just unincorporated parts of L.A., that’s 65% of the County. And of course it opens up the doors for legislation closer to home too.
Let’s send Gloria Molina and the L.A. Board of Supervisors a message that we cherish our local vendors and don’t want to see them move away. This new law needs to be repealed!
Click here to SIGN THE PETITION
Ξ May 4th, 2008 | → Comments Off on Taco Truck Night | ∇ Uncategorized |
Thanks to all of you, Taco Night L.A. was a huge success. Japanese news, Spanish language news, and even a freelance doumentarian were at Tacos La Estrella (54 & York) to help spread the word. Saving the trucks has become a minor sensation with the L.A. Times, New York Times, and even Reuters getting on board. Anecdotal information from friends and other blogs indicate that this was the case all over the county.
Unfortunately, not everyone sees this issue as clearly as we do. The supervisors’ offices have remained largely unmoved by your signatures. Specifically, Supervisor Molina believes that most of the signatures are coming from outside of her district. (Ironically, it doesn’t seem to matter that the petition started in District 1). Let’s keep the heat on the board and let them know that this isn’t just something that will be forgotten next week. Email them, call their offices, sign the petition, and explain what your personal reason for keeping the trucks is. We’ll be selling shirts early this week, so soon you’ll be able to advertise without that awkward segue “speaking of birria…”. We don’t have the money of the special interests, but we do have the votes and the numbers. As representatives, they are supposed to represent their constituents. Let’s tell them what we want!
Not sure which district you’re in? Find out here.
District 1
Gloria Molina
(213) 974-4111
molina@bos.lacounty.gov
District 2
Yvone Burke
(213) 974-2222
seconddistrict@burke.lacounty.gov
District 3
Zev Yaroslavsky
(213) 974-3333
zev@bos.lacounty.gov
District 4
Don Knabe
213-974-4444
don@lacbos.org
District 5
Micahel D. Antonovich
(213) 974-5555
FifthDistrict@lacbos.org
Due to extremely high volume, we have had to expand the petition to a THIRD page. Sign below and join the over 4100 other supporters!
Led by District 1 County Supervisor Gloria Molina, the L.A. Board of Supervisors has passed new restrictions that will effectively eliminate taco trucks from our streets. Under Supervisor Molina’s new rules, taco trucks will have to change location every hour, or face a misdemeanor charge carrying a $1000 fine and/or jail. Yes, jail.
Taco Trucks are a special facet of Los Angeles, and something we don’t want to lose. Though this ordinance currently affects just unincorporated parts of L.A., that’s 65% of the County. And of course it opens up the doors for legislation closer to home too.
Let’s send Gloria Molina and the L.A. Board of Supervisors a message that we cherish our local vendors and don’t want to see them move away. This new law needs to be repealed!
Click here to SIGN THE PETITION
