San Francisco Blog

Here's an account giving an accurate view of this controversy:

http://tinyurl.com/ccoxsl

An explanation for the law:

Until a few years ago, San Francisco students had constant access to soda, chips, French fries and other junk foods right at school. When we parent volunteer children's activists finally convinced the school district to banish the daily sales of junk food at schools, catering trucks drove up to the front doors of schools all over the city to provide the same unhealthy items. That’s why children’s health advocates successfully called for limiting catering trucks’ access to schools.

Granting an exemption to one particular catering truck opens the door for every other catering truck to request a similar exemption, making a mockery of the law. Other catering trucks were doing business in their locations before the law passed, just as this one was – that’s the reason the law was passed. There’s no justification for allowing certain businesses to ignore the law and requiring others to obey it.

Corrections on various points:

Burrito Justice's map is inaccurate. The law applies only to SFUSD middle and high schools, of which there are 4 in the Mission District (two adjacent to each other, so their restricted areas overlap heavily). So there should be 4 donuts, 2 of them mostly overlapped.

San Francisco's restriction doesn't apply to elementary schools so as not to be unnecessarily restrictive to catering trucks. Elementary school students are not allowed off campus and are supervised during the school day. Other cities, including Oakland and Santa Cruz, DO restrict mobile food vendors' distance from elementary schools too.

There isn't a "grandfather clause" on the catering truck restriction because the purpose of the law was to STOP catering trucks from doing what they were doing, which was driving up to the front doors of schools to sell junk food to the students.

Reports of a deal between Gateway High and El Tonayense are inaccurate, by the way -- a Gateway administrator told me that yesterday.

Setting the record straight on some misstatements in the taco truck controversy, including misunderstandings in this post:

http://tinyurl.com/ccoxsl

http://tinyurl.com/dz6b72

It seems that a 500' ban would accomplish your goals without depriving the rest of the city of taco trucks.

So this is how you nanny-state communists teach your kids to solve problems, eh?

In their mindless quest to make everything, "equal", these beaurocrats impose their solutions to problems on everyone, even those that do not have the problem.

If your kid is fat, then why don't you just tell him to stop eating junk food? Why don't you pack his lunch? There is no reason why the healthy kids can't enjoy a nice beef taco supreme with cheddar cheese, tomatoes, and sour cream.

The baby boomer generation ruined this country. Their parents, the greatest generation, who had to endure the most challenging and dangerous time history, sheltered their young excessively. The baby boomers were raised always looking to a higher power for aid. They never became fully independent individuals. They never grew up. With the previous generation out of power and dieing off, the baby boomers looked to government to shelter them as their parents once had. Thus the nanny state came into full force in these United States of America.

What has followed the baby boomers has been no better. That is what one can expect when children are raised by children. Personal responsibility and accountability is a thing of the past. The typical American today tries to solve his or her problems by blaming others and calling for blanket solutions that chip away at our freedoms one ordinance at a time.

We have become a nation entirely comprised of children.

I've worked in a hospital as a cook for 37 years.
I've seen a lot of obese people, but never an obese tongue.
Cut to the chase, If you are not hungry, Don't eat.
When you are hungry, eat 'till you are not...
Not till yer full ,(Read can't stuff any more in)
Sigh, Pour an extra gallon of gas in yer car,just 'cause you can, while it waits , patiently on the curb.
As Always.

Site owner?? Post it or not, Where I live the crows cary lunch buckets.

CarolineSF

You are hardly an impartial observer, but your post seems to lead us to believe that you are giving us an unbiased opinion. I really don't see how a School Health advocate could be any more impartial than a burrito advocate, yet you lead the readers to believe that yours is the unbiased opinion, which is clearly not the case.

They dont sell to anyone under 18.....what in the tacos..booze ?

Idiot Parents are Idiots.

You really thought this was a free country ?

No, people have the right to choose what they want to eat.

Boycott any food establishment in the red zones because you know the wanted to eliminate the competition.

Just think - Who elected these imposters to determine what I as an adult can eat and use a baseless "for the children" excuse.

Whew! I sure am glad they passed that law. It was much easier than attempting to convince thousands of parents and teens to take responsibility for their actions and make healthy eating choices.

Yea Nanny State! Do my thinking for me!