31 Tips For DSM In 2012

#13: Repeal City Rules & Bring Street Food to DSM

I stand for cuisine mobility.

Des Moines needs lunch trucks.

Des Moines needs food carts.

Carts, I say! Street vendors parked hither and yon, providing yummy morsels for the bar flies and suit’n’ties alike. Never again shall we exit a tavern and scream into the Iowa night: “Who is hiding all the falafel in this town?”

Unless you’re perpetually satisfied with pizza, and I got nothing against a slice of pie, you’ll admit that it is absurdly difficult to find a variety of late night munchables on our streets (let alone hail a taxi, which is a literal impossibility… and a tangent).

We reside in a city that currently supports absurd policies regarding mobile food vendors. This past January, the City Council approved rules that restrict hours and require vendors shut down between 1:30 am and 5:30 am, potentially the most lucrative timeframe. Residents could come together in 2012 to reverse these rules and resolve to make Des Moines a cart-friendly city just in time for 80/35.

We’re lucky to have such an excellent Downtown Farmers Market and a swank array of restaurants throughout the metro, but Des Moines must mature into a place where late night dining options are widely available and a storefront is not a requirement for aspiring business-owners.

We can make this happen.

In 2009, the Des Moines Social Club was able to repeal the “No Dancing” ordinance by raising pubic awareness and advocating for change at the municipal level. Speaking of DMSC, remember mooncheez? I do. After that tasty reminder, ask yourself: how can we not organize? Your future self is chowing down right now. She says thanks.

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Rachel Dakarian is one of many loyal @iowademocrats, the tweeting Tech Chair for @NLC_DesMoines, a member of the @wheatsfield Board, an avid @PPHeartland supporter, and a Development Researcher at the @isufoundation, which means she so greatly values her DSM lifestyle that she willingly commutes to Ames every weekday. Rachel wishes you, dear reader, a Happy Year of the Water Dragon. Follow: @Rachel_Dakarian