Editor,
I have read with some interest your recent columns and letters relating to the permissibility of a vendor operating
a hot dog stand in the downtown. I am somewhat ambivalent as to the various viewpoints expressed, except that I do not agree with any statement that seeks to undermine the merits (health or otherwise) of the type of product being offered. The market determines the need for a product or service, and in the case of foods, the Health Unit and Province are responsible for the safety.
A prime recent example of why municipal councils need to distance themselves from interfering with competition, is the odd decision that came from Owen Sound Council, last year. They denied an expansion of the Wal-Mart store that would have provided space for a fresh food product range, because, in their wisdom, they felt such a product offering would be detrimental to the sales at a downtown grocery food store. The downtown store, also a chain, lobbied furiously to convince council to prevent the Wal-Mart expansion. Wal-Mart, in their much greater wisdom, declined to appeal this questionable council decision to the OMB. They simply waited a few months, then rearranged their entire facility to accommodate an expanded grocery line without requiring a physical expansion.
Sometimes councils (everywhere) seem so very selective with who they choose to "protect" and who they do not. They seem to not care if a convenience store plugs a public sidewalk solid with plants for sale, but would likely find fault with a garden centre that tried to sell groceries and detergent on the road allowance in front of their facility. Why is that ?
In the case of the hot dog stand, our Meaford council was not really in a position to turn down a street vendor, since they already had an un-repealed hawker-peddler by-law and fee structure in place. Good luck to the vendor, it will not be easy.
Other street vendors may also seek permission to sell other products from time to time in the future.
It doesn't have to be food. It could be some enterprising "Vince", trying to sell something like Slap-Chops or Sham-Wows from a folding table, or even some 2010 version of the old snake-oil salesman selling wonder medicines out of his trunk, the council really doesn't have much alternative but to let it happen, and let the market decide the viability. It's all good.
Mike Robertson, Meaford
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