The free-enterprise system is based on a level playing field for all competitors, no corruption, and legal remedies backed by a strong civil court system.
Government playing landlord to commercial enterprise is usually far from a level playing field.
Totally agree with this. Government intervention in this case tilts the playing field from bricks and mortar to food carts. Sometimes regulation isn't all bad.
...isn't that how Pig started out? And with the revenue they generated they were able to buy their own place in the Atrium, which I have always seen busy when passing by.
No - Pig started out in a hole-in-the wall location in the 700-blk of View Street, next to Sweeny Todd Barber. Still bricks and mortar, with all of the trappings of a triple-net-lease. Their food truck is essentially a relocation of their Colwood location, after their lease was terminated for the construction of Kolwood's Krazy Kapital Korners, or whatever silly name League is using.
Some people want a small meal without having to sit down and being served by a waitress. These carts are just a stepping stone for them. It establishes their name, their quality of food and the reviews that go with it. Which will allow them to move onto bigger and better things. Plus Portland and it's restaurant businesses seem to be doing just fine with the amount of carts, 500+, they have in the city.
I don't think that either VHF or I are saying no food carts. Rather, what we're saying is that they ought to be regulated so that a fair playing field is created so that existing bricks-and-mortar business - who pay the proverbial ****-tonne of business property taxes - don't get stuck holding their empty pockets out like the Monopoly guy after an unlucky pull of a Chance card.