San Francisco Cooks Up Plan to Legalize Street Food

City looking into permitting food vendors to generate new revenue

San Francisco's War on Fun may be coming to an end. Or at least it's showing kinks in the armor.

After giving into Lindy in the park, it looks like the City may embrace the street food revolution going on in the Mission as well.

It seems San Francisco's attempt to shut down everything fun is falling victim to the almighty dollar and the struggling economy. The San Francisco Examiner reported that the "cash-strapped" Recreation and Park Department is looking to solicit bids from local restaurants who want to sell food in City parks. The plan could be approved as early as Thursday.

“We think this would be a good way to attract neighborhood restaurants interested in displaying some healthy food,” department spokeswoman Lisa Seitz Gruwell told the Examiner. “It would also be an outlet to bring in extra revenue to the department.”

What parks the vendors would be allowed to set up in is not clear. The City currently allows vendors to sell food in Golden Gate Park and in the Civic Center. But each vendor would pay the department a minimum of $1,000 per month, according to the paper. And only healthy food would be allowed to be served.

The price and the healthy clause may force some of the small vendors currently Tweeting their next selling spot around the City out of the picture.

“It would be hard for an independent vendor to make that monthly payment,” the Crème Brûlée Guy, who has not made his name public because he operates illegally, told the paper. “It would be a lot easier for a restaurant owner to just send out an employee to sit there for eight hours.”
 

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