LETTER FROM THE EDITOR
Let those truckers roll
Chapel Hill needs to get with it on this food truck thing.
The town’s land-use management ordinance makes it difficult for trucks to set up as they have in Carrboro, Durham and elsewhere for years. That glaring difference may be coming to an end, as the town council has picked Feb. 28 for a public hearing to consider a change in the rules.
Hats off to people like 3 Cups owner Lex Alexander for pressing the council to make Chapel Hill a friendlier place to park a food truck. Alexander, who knows better than to bring up to an elected board in Chapel Hill the fact that Carrboro is light-years ahead on food trucking, used the examples of Portland, Ore., and Austin, which have embraced the trucks.
The positives, as Alexander and others have pointed out, are evident to anyone who has experienced a truck-delivered repast – this reporter among them. In addition to filling a late-night void and providing those out and about a quick, quality meal, the trucks have added to the variety of choices available and, in the case of Vimala’s Curryblossom Cafe and Durham’s OnlyBurger, enabled entrepreneurs to build a following and open brick-and-mortar locations.
Council members are no doubt getting some feedback from local restaurateurs that the trucks will take away business. That has not been the case in Carrboro and elsewhere, and, as Alexander pointed out to the council, the trucks can be a gateway to new foods and styles, allowing eaters and chefs to try different approaches. Aside from the fact that the council should not be in the business of selecting winners and losers in the food-service marketplace, the experience in other cities has been that the trucks can lead to a much more vibrant and varied food scene. The council will also be providing a boost to the kind of local entrepreneurs the town has been trying to encourage.
There are a lot of big decisions ahead for the council. If they would deem to fix this relatively small item on their plate, the rest of us can get on with adding a few delicious things to ours.
Celebrating the centennial
Thanks to all the fine people who have contributed some really great suggestions on how Carrboro might celebrate the upcoming centennial.
A time capsule seems to be a popular idea. Donna Campbell suggested setting up a video booth to record comments for future residents. Eric Knisley came up with several suggestions featuring the town’s age, including gathering 100 little-known facts about Carrboro past and present, one interesting fact per year for the past 100 years and 100 reasons to love the place.
And the folks at Hoopdrum said they want to help out with some live music and, of course, hooping.
Ah, the mind does wonder at the possibilities. Please send us your thoughts and suggestions, either with a comment on our website or via email to news@carrborocitizen.com
Pie, glorious, pie
Congratulations to the winners of our recent Find-the-Pie contest. We ask for your input in many ways, some serious and some not. You should know that the Find-the-Pie contest generates the greatest interest by far. Some editors might be discouraged by that, but I think it indicates that Citizen readers are smart enough not to pass up a solid chance at free pie.
Correction
In last week’s Biz Beat, the method by which the town of Carrboro will distribute energy-efficiency funds from a recent federal grant was incorrectly identified. Carrboro will distribute the funds through a town revolving loan program similar to its small-business loan program.