Bravo to Las Vegas City Councilman Steve Ross for being the only member to vote against an unconstitutional ordinance that would prohibit food truck vendors from competing within 150 yards of a brick-and-mortar restaurant. (Councilman Bob Beers would have been a “no” vote, as well, but had to abstain due to a conflict in being part owner of a downtown restaurant.)
According to a Las Vegas Review Journal story on this anti-free market action, “Ross said he couldn’t support the ordinance because it isn’t the proper goal of government to solve problems that could be resolved by businesses winning customers through competition.”
“They have a constitutional right to go out and earn a living,” Ross said. “This stymies the entrepreneurial spirit.”
AMEN!
And Ross is a DEMOCRAT! Big time, too. So maybe there’s hope for the republic after all
And oh, what a different, and better, world we’d live in if all elected officials based all of their votes on whether or not the bill/ordinance in question was constitutional. And oh, how happy Barry Goldwater would be!
BTW, the anti-competition ban is being pushed primarily by the owners of the Bar+Bistro fast-food restaurant in the Arts District downtown. Guess I won’t be eating there any longer. Where’s that taco truck?!!
