Is it the city’s job to reduce competition?

To the editor:

The Las Vegas City Council recently passed an ordinance that forces food trucks to maintain a distance of 150 feet from restaurants, with prevention of "unsightly tents, tarps, cords and pipes" and "customer poaching" being cited as justification (Thursday Review-Journal).

I don't own a restaurant or a food truck, or even eat out all that often, but there's still plenty with this ruling that irks me and strikes me as being very poorly thought out.

First, what tents and tarps are so hideous that they serve as rationale for restricting where people can or can't do business? We live in a town with election billboards every three feet and ads on the sides of taxis (often with some risque content), and we're worried that pipes and cords are too unsightly? Second, since when is attracting customers "poaching"? Couldn't a local coffee shop use this same argument to keep a Starbucks from opening up next door? Heck, couldn't the food trucks inversely argue that restaurants are "poaching" their customers?

Third, 100 feet is about the distance between two streetlights. Is a distance as short as 150 feet actually expected to make any difference? If so, shouldn't there be a 150-foot "buffer" between all restaurants? How is this, as Las Vegas City Councilman Stavros Anthony asserts, going to "provide some type of order" on the streets if we have trucks trying to squeeze themselves into the now very limited space they'll have left?

I like restaurants, and I don't think my meal's going to be ruined by the presence of a food truck out front, any more than a regular truck parked there. There's no justification for punishing food trucks for the apparent crime of offering some decent competition, and I strongly hope the City Council will do away with this ridiculous ruling.

GORDON BROWN

LAS VEGAS

Truck inspections?

To the editor:

In all the recent brouhaha concerning the distance between food trucks and and brick-and-mortar restaurants, I was wondering if the food trucks are subject to the same Southern Nevada Health District random inspections that the restaurants are subjected to. I can't recall ever seeing a food truck inspection listed in your Wednesday Taste section. So what's the story?

K.D. Gavin

Las Vegas

Iraq and ... Iran?

To the editor:

Vice President Joe Biden, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and all of the astute Democrats running for federal office in the state of Nevada stood on stage at their rally in Las Vegas on Thursday and raised their hands when asked if they knew someone who was killed or wounded in the war against Iran. How is it that the national media has not covered the war in Iran? Could it be that the mindless people on stage do not know what they're talking about and there is no war in Iran?

I watched all three major news outlets here in Southern Nevada, and not one covered this declaration by Vice President Biden and the confirmation by the others on stage. Didn't President Obama proclaim how very proud he was of Mr. Biden? I worry about those who came after me in the military and the sacrifice they have and will continue to give. The actions of those on stage are a cause for great concern.

No one in our local media questioned the people on stage, and not one of them apologized to the men and women or their families of our military. Had this been Republican vice presidential candidate Paul Ryan, the local stations would have been re-running the news clip every 30 minutes.

RON KIRBY

LAS VEGAS

Voter ID

To the editor:

I am so enthusiastic about voting for Mitt Romney I almost wish I'd registered as a Democrat so my vote could be counted twice. Maybe I can get my dead grandmother to send in her absentee ballot. Why not? It works in many other states that don't require voter ID.

STEVEN G. HAYES Sr.

LAS VEGAS