Posted by Cyrus Farivar on March 15, 2008
I’m sorry, but if you think it’s a good idea to start extorting taco truck owners — especially in Spokane, WA — for money, you’re probably not going to get very far.
Spokesman Review:
A federal charge of impersonating an FBI agent has been filed against a multiple-time felon accused of extorting cash and taking the taco trailer used as the source of income for a Spokane businessman facing deportation.
In addition to the federal charge, Marwan Abdullah Nasser faces a state charge for allegedly kidnapping the son of taco vender Carlos Zuniga to back up extortion demands.
The self-employed businessman, who operated the popular “Tacos Tumbras” in Spokane and Spokane Valley, was told he could avoid deportation to Mexico and remain in Spokane if he paid cash bribes to a man he was told was an FBI agent, court documents say.
Zuniga, briefly detained last summer on pending civil deportation charges, later was introduced to Nasser by local Hispanic activist Carmella LeBlanc “who told Carlos (Zuniga) that Nasser was with the FBI,” the documents allege.
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Posted by Cyrus Farivar on March 12, 2008
Starving Student: The cultural significance of taco trucks
By SARAH KINGSBURY
Article Launched: 03/12/2008 01:01:46 AM PDT
It’s nice to eat with people whose lunch cost less than $5.
Poor people make the world go round, and seem to have a much better understanding of the human condition than people who regularly eat at places like Nature’s Own. They also give better advice and have a better sense of humor than non-poor folks, because the best humor, like blues music, is derived from suffering and indignity.
It is not a secret that the highest-income earners in Chico are white people. So let’s go ahead and stop trying to pretend I’m being racist. Everyone is racist. And every journalist is biased. If you do not agree with the previous two statements, you probably understand the world much differently than I do, and will find this column at least partially offensive.
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Posted by Cyrus Farivar on March 8, 2008
Taco trucks in Iowa? Seriously? I’m astonished at how much I don’t know about the geographic diversity of taco trucks is our country.
Des Moines Register:
City Council members on Monday will cast the second of three votes on a requirement that all so-called “transient merchants” buy permits. Twelve vendors had permits last year; at least three times that number are in business. Those with leases of a year or longer do not require permits, which is what Councilman Brian Meyer wants to change.
“The one thing that absolutely has to happen is that everybody gets a permit, which is what we’re moving forward on,” Meyer said. “Everything else is negotiable.”
City officials have temporarily dropped the idea of higher permit fees and limits on the number of days a vendor can be in one location, whether it’s to sell food, tennis shoes or tie-dyed flags.
Critics said the tougher rules would put an unfair burden on legitimate businesses that barely eke out a profit. Others suggested that the proposals reflect racism against Hispanic entrepreneurs.
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