Kennedy looking to lower fees for food truck industry

This is a no-brainer. Reduce stifling local fees for all businesses across the board and the local economy will pick up.

"Derrrrrrr. Huh?", inquires the typical local politician...

This has got to be of the last hurdles an entrepreneur needs when trying to get things off the ground. If more entrepreneurs feel like they can afford to open shop, the government gets more pockets to pick anyways. The government gets paid in the end, rather in the beginning (which most likely will end up being a greater amount when more businesses open). On top of it all, we all get to enjoy the goods, services and employment of these businesses.

I know, I'm probably preaching to the quire here, but come on, Buffalo.

Kennedy finally doing something moderately useful.

I used to live in Cleveland Heights and food trucks are very prolific there (probably due to the $100 fees/licensing) but they do run into problems similar to what happened with Lloyd and Amherst. Local restaurants get riled up and then find some way to legally get them out of nearby parking lots or the streets.

I recall a similar government cash grab with micro-breweries, NYS use to have the most expensive permit requirements for brewers, I think recently they came to thier senses and made it more affordable.

But exactly what does a NYS senator have to do with a municipal permit fee? This is entirely a city of Buffalo issue. Why is Kennedy involving himself? What exactly is his "proposal"?

Also, the $1,000 fee was negotiated at great length last year by city legislators, food truck owners, and restaurant owners. I don't know how Chicago or Cleveland regulate their trucks, but it may well be that Buffalo puts fewer restrictions on where and when trucks can operate, in return for a higher permit fee.

Mr. Kennedy may want to reread his copy of 'Wealth of Nations'.

Using phrases like 'unleash the growth potential..', and giving the impression that new jobs will be created is typical of his party's lack of understanding of the economy.

For every well placed food truck cherry picking customers from brick and mortar restaurants, you'll just move the employee from in front of the grill inside a restaurant, to the inside of a truck. The number of people buying lunch doesn't change (perhaps a marginal increase due to convenience).

Food options at off hours will decrease if enough food trucks materialize. The brick and mortar owner knows that he needs to stay open during certain slow times (as long as he covers the marginal cost of staying open) so that people will continue to frequent his business during more typical meal times. The 'truck' has no such incentive. Buying food from a food truck is the economic equivalent of buying a foreign made car, then wondering a few years later...where did our manufacturing jobs go?

Mr. Kennedy should do more to attract/promote truly innovative companies that drive dollars from outside our community, into our community. Not the zero-sum trading of lunch money between food trucks and brick and mortar stores.

Oh, now I see. I read the WBEN article - http://www.wben.com/pages/14543992.php?contentType=4&contentId=11652719 - and Kennedy wants NYS to regulate how much municipalities can charge food trucks.

So the State will be adding new regulations to prevent cities and towns from making their own local decisions about how to regulate food trucks. Thumbs down.

Wow a dem (especially one from Buffalo), grasps that lower fees and less regulation will spur innovation and growth? Did I really just read that?

I don’t see find $1000 per year stifling to the food truck business. That’s under $4 per day for a 5 day work week. Nobody likes paying any sort of tax. Fee, permit for anything. I am surprised that other cities charge so much less.

Usually I talk a big game about getting government out of the way of business through lower taxes and regulation. However, since food trucks aren't the sort of "business" that me or other decent people would patronize, I say we get government in their way by taxing and regulating them to the point where they lose their competitive advantage with my friends in the B & M restaurant business.

Who wants to eat from a truck anyway? Yuck!

With their petroleum sucking generators and truck engines, these shops are great for business if you're a Saudi Prince. Every time you eat a taco, you put a twinkle in his eye.

Can someone explain Kelly's comment: "To charge more for food trucks, who pay property taxes through their rental fees for commissaries, is unfair."

What rental fee is she talking about?

I can sympathize with Brick and Mortar establishments in this case. Let's say you buy a house in a high demand area, pay the corresponding taxes due to the higher assessment, take care of the property, maybe even add some improvements. Now let's say someone parks a trailer on the street by the curb in front of your house every week, enrolls their kids in the school your taxes support, and all they pay is a registration fee for the trailer. Would you be happy?

Yep - I keep moving to the other extreme here - I think we should jack up the fees on food trucks and use the increased fees to provide incentives to businesses that actually will invest in the real property in neighborhoods and commercial strips.