Move over Dennis Ross, and meet Los Angeles Councilmember for District 13, and City Council President, Eric Garcetti.

The Eastsider blog points out what may be the world’s first case of taco truck diplomacy as mediated by local public officials.

Here’s the issue: The Tacos Arizas taco truck has apparently been parked at the corner of Sunset Blvd. and Logan St. for years. Each night it welcomes all kinds of folks who want to get their taco on. However, the local residents say that many of these people don’t seem to know how to keep the noise down, nor how to adequately dispose of their basura. Before, when the City of Los Angeles had a one-hour parking limit, the cops could just hit them with tickets all the time. But that law was struck down in June, making it impossible to compel the truck to move.

Garcetti set up a meeting between the Loncheros Association, the LAPD, and his own Council District 13.

The result? The Eastsider reports:

After the discussions, the owners of Arizas agreed to move the truck about a block north to the other side of Sunset Boulevard next to the Sav-A-Lot market and away from apartments and homes. “This was the first time we worked with a taco truck to have them voluntarily move to a location to address concerns of local residents,” said Garcetti’s spokeswoman, Julie Wong.

The taco truck owners are happy with the new location - and not having to contest $158 parking tickets, said Magallenes. “It was a good approach,” he said of the negotiations with the city. “We got good results.”

However, the Arizas truck is now closer to some restaurants but merchants were not involved in the negotiations over the new location, Magallenes said. One resident, who lives nearby, has also noticed that the Arizas truck sometimes parks closer to Sunset Boulevard than called for in the deal with the city.

Hrm. Maybe the new residents can be bought off with free pastor?

[via LA Daily blog]

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