quote:

Originally posted by prisonchef

the point is and will continue to be that the brick and mortars are no friends of the mobile operators.

And I hope that neither the brick and mortars nor government become friends of the mobile operators in New Orleans.

The great restaurants in New Orleans have been the city’s main attraction for many years, and opening up the city to a swarm of mobile eateries would make it impossible for many of the old brick and mortars to stay open. The NO culinary industry is barely hanging on by a thread as it is, and additional competition from low capital operations could finish many of them off. It may be selfish, but I want them to stay open so I can continue to enjoy their fare when I’m in town.

And it is fiction to say that the "immigrants" are doing jobs that no one else would do. Fact is that the people displaced from New Orleans were never given the opportunity to do these jobs. The rip off contractors simply set up their Mexico to New Orleans underground railroad to bring in cheap labor rather than hire locals to help rebuild the total social fabric of the area, not just the buildings. Several contractors were discovered to be dropping off their "immigrant" day laborers to spend their non-working hours at the relief centers set up to provide food and lodging for Katrina victims.

I picked up a t-shirt on my most recent visit to New Orleans last month that tells the story in a nutshell:

"GOVERNMENT PLAN FOR REBUILDING NEW ORLEANS

F ind
E very
M exican
A vailable"