GREEN COVE SPRINGS, Florida (PNN) - September 25, 2017 - After Hurricane Irma devastated Florida, most restaurants and stores were shut down in certain areas. Green Cove Springs was one of those places. So when Jack Roundtree, owner of the Triple J BBQ food truck, arrived in town, not only was he welcomed with open arms, he was desperately needed. As he sold BBQ to paying customers, Roundtree used the extra money to feed utility workers for free for all their hard work. However, once officials saw a man who’d dare sell food in their town without paying them first, terrorist pig thug cops were called in to make quick work of this entrepreneurial Good Samaritan.
Shut down and get out of town is what Roundtree was told by local authorities for both providing charity and a much-needed product and service. Why was Roundtree told to get out of town, you ask? Well, he hadn’t paid the local government for the privilege to sell food to those in need inside Green Cove Springs.
Roundtree is no outlaw. In fact, Green Cove Springs actually encouraged him to sell his BBQ during their monthly Saturday-in-the-Park event before the hurricane. But not this time.
Even if he would’ve gone to city hall to buy a permit to sell during the Hurricane Irma aftermath, however, he couldn’t because they were closed.
So instead of allowing Roundtree to offer free food to utility workers and sell food to people during their time of need, and just get a permit after government employees decided to return to work, they just kicked him out of town.
Here’s how one Green Cove Spring witness, Bettie Tune, described the events at Rich’s on her Facebook page:
Just saw a BBQ food truck set up in town. GREAT!! Wanted to stop and get a good lunch for the guys helping us. When I pulled in, there was a Green Cove Springs terrorist pig thug cop sitting there. OK, everyone has to eat, and the choices are very limited right now. Starting to talk to one of the guys from the food truck and found out that the city manager had sent her terrorist pig thug cops to make them leave. This is such a great little town, but it seems like the people who run it do their best to keep it from progressing. THANKS Green Cove Springs City Manager. Shame on you!
The irony here is that he was kicked out of town for failing to get a permit by government workers because the other government workers who would’ve given him this permit were not at work.
In a report from the Institute for Justice, Communications Coordinator Matt Powers explains that Roundtree is not alone.
Cities across the country often impose strict regulations that make it nearly impossible for food trucks to operate. In 2011, the Institute for Justice (IJ) launched its National Street Vending Initiative to fight these laws.
In Baltimore, IJ is challenging a ban on food trucks parking within 300-foot of a brick-and-mortar business that sells the same type of food. In Chicago, IJ is challenging regulations that ban food trucks from operating within 200 feet of a brick-and-mortar business serving food and forces them to install GPS tracking devices that broadcast their every move. IJ is also challenging a Louisville, Kentucky law banning food trucks from operating within 150 feet of any restaurant selling similar food.
These strict regulations are ostensibly designed for food safety, but in reality, serve to raise revenue for the State and limit established restaurants’ competition. They also stifle economic growth.
It is not only during times of crisis that food trucks contribute to their communities. Mobile vending businesses help people escape poverty and unemployment through affordable start-up costs that create the initial economic opportunity for upward mobility. The presence of food trucks can actually help local restaurant industries by attracting new customers and serving as incubators for new restaurants. Cities should embrace food trucks and liberate them from onerous regulations so they can enjoy the benefits these businesses bring.
When people in need are denied food they are willing to purchase because government workers aren’t in the office to sell the maker of that food a permission slip, something is wrong in the so-called Land of the Free.
This problem is everywhere. It stifles local economic growth, persecutes the poor the hardest, and turns hard working entrepreneurs into criminals, ripe for the extortion of the State.
Luckily, thanks to Martin Flores, who filmed an innocent hot dog vendor named Beto get robbed by a Berkeley, Kalifornia terrorist pig thug cop for selling hot dogs, Amerikans are finally seeing the harsh reality of making a living in a police state.