Hispanic group wants Salt Lake to revisit cart law

A Utah Hispanic nonprofit organization is asking Salt Lake City leaders to reconsider changes made to the city's vending-cart ordinance, saying the amendments reflect "anti-Mexican sentiments by the city's elected and appointed officials."

In a letter sent this week to Mayor Rocky Anderson, Mayor-elect Ralph Becker and members of the Salt Lake City Council, Centro Civico Mexicano spokesman John Renteria and eight taco vendors take issue with amendments to city code that place additional requirements on sidewalk vendors.

Those changes, the letter says, "unfairly target the mostly Hispanic business owners in a harmful, oppressive and discriminatory manner."

The amendments, unanimously approved by the Salt Lake City Council on Sept. 4, stemmed from complaints about smells, messes and locations of food-vending carts that property owners said negatively affected their businesses.

Under the amended ordinance, sidewalk vendors now must submit to a criminal background check, secure agreements to use bathrooms with a neighboring business and provide written notice of intent to surrounding businesses and property owners before being issued a business license.

Some of the amendments, such as cleaning up spills and picking up litter, went into effect when the ordinance was passed. Those that pertain to business licenses take effect Jan. 1. All operators of sidewalk vending carts are required to renew their permits for 2008.

Many taco vendors were not aware of the city's plans to amend the ordinance, according to the letter, preventing them from attending and speaking at the public hearing before the City Council made its decision.

"The Hispanic community and taco vendors feel betrayed by an outgoing progressive administration ... that permitted such regressive ordinance reform to spontaneously evolve," the letter reads.

Renteria also recommends "conciliatory measures" that can be taken by the city to "buffer the adverse effects of the new vending cart ordinance." Those requests include postponing enforcement of the ordinance; revisiting the issue with input from taco vendors or their representatives; and reworking the vending cart ordinance, if necessary.

Luke Garrott, who will be sworn in Jan. 7 as the City Council member representing downtown, said the issue warrants a second look.

"There may be issues of fairness that the council needs to look at again," Garrott said. "Frankly, I think taco carts add to the vitality of the street. If there's a market for them, we should be helping that market and not impeding small business."

City officials have conducted two training sessions about the new rules, in both both English and Spanish.

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