Comments on: Decatur’s Food Cart Conundrum

By: Iheartnelliebelle

Iheartnelliebelle — Wed, 23 Feb 2011 04:27:09 +0000

Gosh, I don’t believe any of those restaurants existed during the period of MARTA construction you mentioned in your earlier post so I don’t get your point.

Why are we even talking about MARTA construction in a column about food carts?

Bring on the food carts!! Park them in the lot between the restaurants and Eddie’s Attic — facing the (new) courthouse. YUM!

By: UDog

UDog — Wed, 23 Feb 2011 02:17:24 +0000

I was pointing out the foolishness of a partial government supported monopoly by limiting the street vendors to food.

By: Oakhurst Gossip

Oakhurst Gossip — Wed, 23 Feb 2011 02:09:21 +0000

Gosh, it seems like Iberian Pig, Square Pub, and Mac McGees seem to be thriving under such “conditions.”

By: Iheartnelliebelle

Iheartnelliebelle — Wed, 23 Feb 2011 01:52:19 +0000

Not so. Pasta Please closed as did Saba. I’ll bet that owners would say that the construction played a role in the closings — maybe not the only or biggest role, but a significant one.

Plus, keep in mind that restaurant owners also were facing planned development on the lot between the restaurants and Eddie’s Attic, which would have complicated deliveries.

I feel bad that the owners sunk money into those spots, planning that construction would soon end/start but it went on and on and on and on or stalled. Hard to plan to spend more money, get more customers, improve offerings, etc. when you don’t know what will happen next.

By: Heck

Heck — Wed, 23 Feb 2011 00:51:28 +0000

Park one in front of McDonalds….Please!

By: Robert

Robert — Tue, 22 Feb 2011 22:36:35 +0000

Which is why the best solution is to place food carts in the right hand lanes of Clairmont Road. Residents have been complaining about speeding traffic so why not kill two birds with one stone. We can provide scrumptious dining options and create a more pedestrian, bicycle, and neighbor friendly road all in one shot. And it won’t even require a dime in government funding, much less a few hundred thousand. Don’t mind the fact that this could create a dangerous driving conditions for those minions who use that archaic form of transportation. We’ll come up with a creative paint job and all will be well. For those of you who abhor this idea you just better hope the next mayor doesn’t live on Clairmont and read this blog.

By: Chira

Chira — Tue, 22 Feb 2011 20:09:28 +0000

Agree!

By: lumpintheroad

lumpintheroad — Tue, 22 Feb 2011 19:46:07 +0000

There seems to be a general assumption here that food carts are most likely to compete with the restaurants in and around downtown Decatur/the square. If I was a food cart operator, that’d be the LAST place I’d go. Rather, I’d set up shop in an area where there are limited takeout food offerings or only chain fast food places. That just makes sense.

And that’s why I think the extreme prejudice against food carts is a bit exclusionary and classist. Food carts make it easy to bring quality, locally-owned (at least, within the city of Atlanta, if not necessarily that particular neighborhood) food options to areas of the town that provide few such offerings. They’re a quick and easy way to fill a niche. Or at least they would be if the city would be more accommodating.