
{"id":1735,"date":"2008-01-30T13:26:55","date_gmt":"2008-01-30T21:26:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.carrborocitizen.com\/main\/2008\/01\/30\/ask-the-restaurants\/"},"modified":"2008-01-30T13:26:55","modified_gmt":"2008-01-30T21:26:55","slug":"ask-the-restaurants","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/2008\/01\/30\/ask-the-restaurants\/","title":{"rendered":"Ask the restaurants"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>In your \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Town\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s taco trucks in jeopardy\u00e2\u20ac\u009d article on Jan. 24 article, Mayor Mark Chilton and Board of Aldermen member Jacquie Gist [said they] don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t understand why a complaint was filed against trucks selling prepared food from parking lots.<\/p>\n<p>Gist writes, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153I am worried by the real possibility that hard working entrepreneurs who are adding to our community could be put out of business and have their livelihood threatened. It is un-American and certainly un-Carrboro. If Carrboro cannot offer a welcoming home to immigrants trying to achieve the American Dream, then maybe I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t know Carrboro as well as I think I do.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d <!--more--><\/p>\n<p>The Taco Stands are not an immigration issue. The Taco Stands are not an entrepreneurial issue. The Taco Stands are a public health and a business licensing issue.<\/p>\n<p>May I suggest that Chilton and Gist interview some of the real entrepreneurs, local business owners of Carrboro restaurants, and ask them how they feel about the fact that there are two sets of zoning and public health standards when it comes to serving food in downtown Carrboro. They might ask about the livelihood of local business people who have invested substantial tangible and permanent assets into downtown Carrboro.<\/p>\n<p>Fitch Lumber, Johnny\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Sporting Goods and Cliff\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Meat Market parking lots are not licensed and inspected as restaurants, period. They don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t have to install costly HVAC systems, restrooms, pay overhead for rent or phones. (Whom do you call if you are in the ER with possible food poisoning?)<br \/>\nFull-functioning restaurants are the center of community life in Carrboro, but they live on the edge. They are faced with high employee costs, high rent costs, high food costs and very high construction costs. They must then survive on a slim margin \u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 take-home salary is minimal. Interview the owners of Glass Half Full, Tyler\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s, Spotted Dog, Southern Rail, Elmo\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s, Panzanella or Weaver Street Cafe and ask them how they feel about a competitor setting up shop next door who faces almost no start-up and maintenance costs.<\/p>\n<p>Gist\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s and Chilton\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s comments were irresponsible and a slap in the face to existing, locally owned small businesses. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s time, long overdue, for the Carrboro Board of Aldermen to end their arbitrary attitude toward zoning laws. They need to stand up for local businesses that pay taxes and support the long-term viability of Carrboro. Please stop pandering to imaginary issues and face those that strengthen our local economy.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Ken Mills<\/strong><br \/>\nCarrboro<br \/>\nP.S. I did not file the anonymous complaint.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In your \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Town\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s taco trucks in jeopardy\u00e2\u20ac\u009d article on Jan. 24 article, Mayor Mark Chilton and Board of Aldermen member Jacquie Gist [said they] don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t understand why a complaint was filed against trucks selling prepared food from parking lots. Gist writes, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153I am worried by the real possibility that hard working entrepreneurs who are adding&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[35],"class_list":["post-1735","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-opinion","tag-letters-to-the-editor"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1735","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/12"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1735"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1735\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1735"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1735"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1735"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}