Clearly, it's just "cleanliness" we're concerned with here. You understand.

Since Katrina, the population of immigrant Hispanic laborers has increased significantly in New Orleans. As a result of that, lunch trucks run by Mexican and Central Americans have also appeared in numbers. As you might expect, this is not exactly a welcome turn of events to some.

Still, the Jefferson Parish councilman who restricted the trucks characterized them as unwanted residue from the hurricane.

"We've been trying to handle blighted housing, FEMA trailers, abandoned housing," said Louis Congemi, whose zoning ordinance takes effect this weekend and is expected to clear the parish of taco trucks. "This is just one more thing we're trying to get under control to make sure we bring our parish back to normalcy."

Congemi added: "You have to be concerned about the cleanliness of these vehicles."

Ahhhh.....normalcy and cleanliness. How wonderful. We just need a quote from him about "those people" to make it complete.

They were banned for being "eyesores" and "health hazards". There's no picture of the trucks in the article or of how much space they take or anything, so i can't speak to them being eyesores. However, as far as being health hazards,

Louisiana state records show licenses for about 40 taco trucks in Jefferson and Orleans parishes. They are inspected annually, like all street vendors.

"They're up to speed with their licensing," department spokesman Bob Johannessen said. "We haven't received any sort of complaint about food quality, anything that would indicate a public health concern."

And also

"It's better than Taco Bell. I can tell you that," said Michael Gould, 53, who lined up at Fuentes' truck during a recent lunch hour.

Ok, if you've got a Taco Bell or a McDonalds open in the area, you cannot seriously be making the "health hazard" claim for banning the trucks. That dog won't hunt.

Anybody who has ever worked in any type of food service industry can attest to how disgusting the kitchen of any restaurant is and they're inspected regularly, too. So, if these trucks are up-to-date on their inspections and licensing, i don't see how they should be categorized as health hazards over any other restaurant.

The mayor had previously made a bit of a snafu when he commented that businesses were concerned about making sure they weren't overrun by Mexican workers and had to back-track on that during his re-election campaign. So, trying to steer clear of controversy, Nagin's spokesperson had this to say:

"I'm more than sure it is welcome in the city," said David Robinson-Morris, a spokesman for Mayor Ray Nagin. "It is providing a service, and it is a part of our sales tax revenue."

As one lunch truck owner is quoted as saying, "I'm looking for an opportunity. That's why I left my country, and that's what led me here...That's what they call the American Dream, isn't it?".

That is what they call it. However, i'm not sure if they meant that to include everyone.

But haven't you heard the reports about leprosy?

http://www.comedycentral.com/motherload/index.jhtml?ml_video=89349

in this country?

incredible.

It must be true, he took off his glasses and looked directly at the camera. That means its true, right? You don't do that when you're lying!

What's with all these dogs that won't hunt? When did American dogs become such slackers? We should open our borders to dogs that will do the work that American dogs won't do.