Council flips food trucks to Planning Commission
Nicky Boyette Food trucks were the focus for five citizens who spoke to the Eureka Springs City Council during Public Comments at Monday evening’s meeting, and opinion was divided. Richard September, owner of Grandma’s Beans and Cornbread restaurant in Pine Mountain Village, told council restaurants in town are struggling. He read a long list of overhead expenses his business incurs that food trucks do not. He said during the recent antique car show in Pine Mountain Village parking lot right in front of his restaurant, his business suffered because there were food trucks that he claimed offered no benefits to Eureka Springs, and belong in large cities. Michael Shah distributed material from research at Harvard regarding cost-benefit analysis plus a sampling of regulations for food trucks in different cities in the country. He said food trucks dramatically changed the area near his business in Washington D.C., and that city still has not resolved all the problems. Joe Joy, restaurant owner, said he had talked to restaurant owners in town since the recent council workshop on food trucks, and found no one who supported allowing food trucks in town. He said he employs 13 people, and would not want their families to suffer because of food trucks. He asserted there is only a certain amount of money that will be spent on food in Eureka Springs, so if food trucks are allowed to operate, it is logical some restaurants will feel the impact. He urged council to have a yes-or-no vote that evening on food trucks. Rod Minner owns the Rowdy Beaver Restaurant, and he said food trucks might be popular, but he does not think Eureka Springs is the right place for them. He could offer them space on his property and lay off
Songbird flies the sea – Finnish singing star Johanna Kurkela has landed on our shores to begin her first American tour right here in the Ozarks, thanks to John Two-Hawks. TwoHawks, who has a huge following in Finland, met Kurkela while performing there and suggested collaboration on a Christmas album. The result is the beautiful CD, Noel, much of which will be heard on Dec. 5 at the Annual John Two-Hawks Christmas Concert as the two perform their celestial holiday music beginning at 7 p.m. Tickets are $15 at www. johntwohawks.com.
FOOD TRUCKS continued on page 2
This Week’s INDEPENDENT Thinker Sarah Josepha Hale took a job as magazine editor in 1828. In 1837 she started a campaign for a national day of Thanksgiving, and goosed her readers and the government for more than 40 years to make Thanksgiving a national holiday. George Washington issued a presidential proclamation in 1789 for Thanksgiving every fourth Thursday in November, but it lost some steam amid all our growing pains. Abraham Lincoln issued another Thanksgiving proclamation in 1863, hoping a national day of family and feasting would salve some of the wounds between the North and the South. It wasn’t until Franklin Delano Roosevelt signed an Act of Congress Photo from vnews.com on Nov. 26, 1941 that Thanksgiving became a legal holiday. Sarah Josepha Hale was an editor until she retired at 89, so there’s that inspiration to thank her for, too…
Inside the ESI Council – Water rates climb 3 CAPC – Festivals 4 CAPC 5 Parks 6 Parks – Basin Park 7 Council – Carriage Rides; Independent Mail 8 Airport 11 Shop Locally for the Holidays 12-13 Astrology 16 Indy Soul 18 Dropping A Line 21 Crossword 21 Classifieds 22
Thanksgiving is an action word.