Free Talk Live

13 year old saves up $1,200 to buy a hot dog stand to help his family out. He files all the necessary paperwork, he gets a vending permit, gets permission from the property owner on where he is to set up his stand just to be shot down by city hall.

Duszynski was told by city officials that "his cart was in violation of a Holland zoning law that protects existing food businesses downtown against competition from mobile food vendors, and he would have to cease operation immediately."

The owner of the popular food truck Dim and Den Sum says the city of Cleveland will put him out of business soon if it doesn't get legislation approved that will allow him to operate downtown at lunch time.

Joey Scuotto, a commissioner with a restaurant down the street from City Hall, has said he wants an outright ban on gourmet food trucks citywide. "We have so many restaurants struggling to stay afloat in Sunrise," he told the Sun Sentinel. "I see it as a disadvantage to the businesses that the food trucks come in here." Talk of a ban has sparked an outcry from local food truck owners and onlookers irked by what they call an attempt to stamp out competition.

An attorney for a group of food truck and push cart vendors has written members of the Birmingham City Council to say the vendors have “serious concerns” about a proposed mobile food ordinance that they say is “extraordinarily restrictive” and, if passed as written, could drive them out of downtown. “Our organization isn’t opposed to regulation, but the complexity of this ordinance is kind of astounding to me,” David Donaldson, the attorney representing the mobile vendors, said today.

"A politician in a New York suburb called police on two 13-year-old boys for selling cupcakes and other baked goods without a permit, according to a report Monday. A permit to sell things in the park costs $150 to $350 for two hours and a $1 million insurance certificate is also required."

The DEA employed an informant, the driver, and the truck of his employer to pose as a marijuana trafficker to catch other traffickers. The employer, who owns the truck, didn't know. Driver gets killed, truck shot up. Out of control DEA. Seriously. For pot.

In what the Street Vendor Project is describing as the first salvo in an imminent crackdown, a roasted peanut vendor in Lower Manhattan had his permit confiscated last week after he stepped away from his stand for a quick comfort break. Mohammed Shirajul Islam, who's been a vendor for the last ten years, is now in dire straits after answering nature's call at a nearby bookstore. "When got back to my cart, the permit had been scratched away," says Islam, 42. "Now I have to wait until they give me a new permit, and that could take a month. I can’t sleep.

The FDA says its new guidelines would make the food Americans eat safer and help prevent the kinds of food borne disease outbreaks that sicken or kill thousands of consumers each year. The rules could cost manufacturers up to $475 million annually. The bill also authorized more surprise inspections by the FDA and gave the agency additional powers to shut down food facilities. In addition, the law required stricter standards on imported foods.

This time it started out differently. Adam Mueller and Pete Eyre from Liberty on Tour were there with Antonio Musumeci (otherwise known as "Bile" for his blog, Blog of Bile) and, of course, Julian Heicklen.