Call me Street Food libertarian
(posted by Angelica)
I am, as I’ve said before on my own blog, a big fat cheerful statist. In general, I am less about throwing off the yoke of government and more about adjusting the boot on the neck so that it’s not too uncomfortable. I acknowledge that a certain amount of running roughshod over individual rights is regrettably necessary for the optimal function of society and all…
But now, Big Government have really gone too far.
Bacon-wrapped hotdogs banned on the streets of L.A.
I say this injustice cannot stand. The Man will have to pry that crispy treat from my cold, greasy fingers.
OK, I admit, I lied. I am an East-Coast girl and so have actually never had a bacon-wrapped hotdog before in my life. But really. It’s a hotdog wrapped in bacon and then grilled until crispy and you eat it on the streets! How can it not be the kind of pleasure that makes life itself worth living? Can we really call ourself a free people if we deny the right to indulge in such a glorious food in the name of…
In the name of what, exactly? Why are the street vendors of L.A. getting thrown in jail for selling bacon-dogs anyhow? It’s apparently because they have to be grilled, rather than boiled or steamed, the only two cooking methods allowed for pushcarts in L.A. That raises its own question. What’s wrong with grilling food on the streets? The authorities never seem to give a straight answer even though the article (admittedly one with a very pro-dog slant) is thousands and thousands of words long. The police officer interviewed by the reporter trots out a parade of bull that is truly spectacular. Hotdog grease could splatter onto clothing displays? Um, make them move two meters so that this is not an issue anymore. General unsanitary condition of some of the vendors he has seen? Well, that’s not a cooking method issue!
Even worse. In the comments to this unusually well-written and entertaining article, some guy claimed that in Chicago, street vendors are not allowed at all Can this really be true?
February 15th, 2008 at 6:24 pm
Oh, Angelica, it can indeed be true. Benito Giuliani, as Mayor of NYC, proposed to ban hot dog and other street vendors in Manhattan. I was living there then and everyone thought it was crazy — except for the Deli owners who, of course, would benefit.
Hot dog and hot nut vendors are the quintessential NYC experience, and Rudy would have shut them down!
February 16th, 2008 at 12:38 am
My guess is that the main purpose served by the “steaming and boiling only” rule is to restrict the number of ways street vendors can compete with indoor sitdown restaurants. It’s for the “public safety,” of course–the old Baptists and bootleggers thing.
Here in NW Arkansas, a woman who ran a senior daycare center out of her home (for three people–hardly a traffic problem) was shut down for violating the zoning laws. Her clients’ families were effusive in their praise, giving her credit for keeping the elders out of a nursing home. And guess who turned her in? You guessed it–a nursing home administrator.
February 16th, 2008 at 3:55 am
I have a feeling you’re right, Kevin. Get a load of this from the LAPD justifying why they crack down on the bacon-dog vendors:
Merchants in the Fashion District sometimes ask for enforcement against illegal hot-dog vendors, Smith says, because the burning grease from their makeshift grills soils fabrics in storefronts.
“If somebody comes in with no overhead and no bills and no sanitary counters and starts selling hot dogs,” Smith says, “you certainly can’t complete with any of that.”
Wha? The burning grease is supposedly a concern to stores selling garments, right? So what’s all this about carts having no overhead being too competitive? That sounds like it came straight out of a restaurant owner who don’t like people buying a dog on the street instead of going to his establishment.
February 17th, 2008 at 3:46 am
Bacon is the “gateway” sin food.
February 18th, 2008 at 10:03 pm
Yeah, imagine what would have if they had to endure free competition from people with low overhead. Why… why… stuff would (gasp) COST LESS and the sellers would get LESS PROFIT!
I’m surprised the RIAA isn’t seeking “public interest”/”safety” regulation to prevent Radiohead from marketing their own music over the Internet. With that “low overhead,” they’re undermining the whole proprietary model of scarcity rents on artificial forms of property.
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: Despite all their “free market” rhetoric, if there were even the remotest threat of a genuine free market, the Fortune 500 would sponsor a coup d’etat.
February 19th, 2008 at 8:19 pm
[...] is a self-professed “cheerful statist,” yet she exhibits at least some libertarian tendencies when questioning the seeming arbitrariness of the bacon-dog-bans in the DPRC. What’s wrong with [...]
February 19th, 2008 at 9:22 pm
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: Despite all their “free market” rhetoric, if there were even the remotest threat of a genuine free market, the Fortune 500 would sponsor a coup d’etat.
Why, yes. There is a reason why virtually no CEOs of large corporations are libertarians.
February 21st, 2008 at 2:56 am
As an opponent of liberty, I support the ban on general principle. I wouldn’t let these street-grillers get a foot in the door: it would put us on the slippery slope that leads to the abolition of the income tax, replacement of police with private security forces, and God knows what else. But then I suppose, as an opponent of liberty, I shouldn’t be commenting on this blog anyhow.
BTW Who is this “Angelica”? You need to be anonymous at Battlepanda but not here?
February 26th, 2008 at 8:29 pm
Heh. I’m not really afraid to be associated with the political stuff on Battlepanda, but the thought of potential future employers finding personal tidbits on there squicks me out. It’s all ineffectual in anycase.
March 3rd, 2008 at 12:31 pm
[...] battlepanda: Heh. I’m not really afraid to be associated with the political stuff on Battlepanda, but the thought of potential future employers… [...]
March 5th, 2008 at 9:56 am
[...] who was irate over a recent ban on street vendors selling bacon-wrapped hot-dogs in California, has not shed her [...]
March 12th, 2008 at 11:17 am
[...] of a couple of recent posts by Angelica, and of extensive discussion in the comments: “Call Me Street Food Libertarian“ and “The Rats of El [...]
March 13th, 2008 at 8:52 am
[...] “The Rats of El Toro,” Angelica’s response to my critique of her “street-food-libertarianism,” the Rad Geek rips new ones (read his entire response!) …Even though you’re not [...]
March 22nd, 2008 at 10:46 am
I couldn’t understand some parts of this article Call me Street Food libertarian, but I guess I just need to check some more resources regarding this, because it sounds interesting.