BajaNomad

The Death of the Taco Carts by City Leaders=Nuevo San Diego ?

bajacaribe - 12-28-2005 at 09:25 PM

Rumour on the street is that the City Leaders are forcing all taco carts, street vendors and calafias out of the Tijuana Downtown Core. They are supposedly being paid off by rich land and building owners that want to revamp Tijuana into LIttle San Diego repleat with McDonalds, Taco Bells and KFCs on every other corner.

Who would you rather give your tourist dollars to?

A. A local family owned taco cart who work hard (12 hours a day)
to serve you cheap, fresh, healthy food who will spend your money on food, rent, medicine for their children and family, locally; or,

B. To Rich Land Owners and Corporations who care nothing about culture, tradition and poverty who will use your money to build more locations serving unhealthy, artifical, microwaved food and never spend a dime locally.

If Tijuana looks like San Diego with tons of non-mexican, corporate fast food restaurants (like Monterrey, Nuevo Leon aka Nuevo El Paso)
then Tourists will bypass Tijuana in search of a more real Mexico with colorful street vendors, live, heart-felt music in the air and $1 dollar hot dogs, tacos, champurrada, elote (sweet corn) in places farther south.

Also, this Nuevo San Diego will destroy the hopes, dreams and means of survival for hundreds or thousands of carts, suppliers and other businesses that feed on traffic generated by people buying from the carts and vendors.

THEY ARE A TRADITIONAL MEXICAN ATTRACTION UNTO THEMSELVES, IN THEIR OWN RIGHT.

People come here because it is NOT like San Diego, Los Angeles or San Francisco. Tijuana has a flavor that is a gentle mix of modern life and rich, grass roots traditions like family first and work hard.

Rich people and corporations care nothing about this. They are mad because President Bush and other policies and policy makers have ruined economies around the world.

Bad Corporations and greedy military and government suppliers and manufacturers have peeed off people around the world with their lack of respect for the environment, holy lands, worker's rights and the law.

The Bad Corporations and US Military's meddling, kidnapping, torture and thievery around the world has caused great suffering and hatred.

More corruption, more terrorism, more security measures equals longer border waits, decline of tourism and interborder commerce.

This causes more hardship, less money, more desperation and crime.

It is a viscous, downward sprial that must be reversed.

The answer for the landlords, land owners and corporate investors to make good business and good profits is by restablishing public trust doing things that help the worst off in each country instead of moving them around like cattle and criminalizing the homeless. Lead by good example, instead of being a greedy coward.

Get rid of the corruption, that they themselves are a party to and increase real security by opening up dialogue with all the so-called 'terrorists' to find out what they want and what it's going to take to get them to leave the U.S. alone (like maybe if we leave their holy lands... and start following their laws and stop paying bribes...).

Then we can find ways to increase commerce through trust and open communications instead of through fear and force.

That's my two bits. Leave the carts and vendors where they are and start working on corruption inside of your governments and corporations before you start telling other people what they are allowed to do...

JUST SAY "NO" TO MORDIDA !

SAY "SI' TO TACOS AND HOT DOGS !!!



baja caribeean

[Edited on 12-30-2005 by bajacaribe]

The Death of the Taco Cart-Matador with Bull Dozers

bajacaribe - 12-28-2005 at 09:49 PM

Attached is a cartoon drawing someone emailed me. It shows a guy stabbing a Taco Cart like a Matador with money and bulldozers closing in to move them out of downtown Tijuana ...

[Edited on 12-29-2005 by bajacaribe]

Dave - 12-28-2005 at 10:20 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by bajacaribe
Who would you rather give your tourist dollars to?

A. A local family owned taco cart who work hard (12 hours a day)
to serve you cheap, fresh, healthy food who will spend your money on food, rent, medicine for their children and family, locally; or,

B. To Rich Land Owners and Corporations who care nothing about culture, tradition and poverty who will use your money to build more locations serving unhealthy, artifical, microwaved food and never spend a dime locally.


I would rather give my money to either that have legal business licenses and pay taxes.

Most carts operate illegally and thus withhold tax support for educational and medical services that benefit all Mexicans.

Mexicans who engage in the underground economy rob from Mexico's poor. They are traitors.

Bruce R Leech - 12-29-2005 at 07:19 AM

the Mexican people want these things

Tijuana is not there just for the Americans. far moor Mexicans flock to Tijuana than do Americans and Canadians, and I think they want something different than what they are used to also. many Mexicans cant get visas to cross to the USA and go to TJ for a change in life style.

when people come here on vacation they like to think that every thing should be just the way they like it, but don't forget there are lots of people that live here and don't tell them they cant have the nice thing that you enjoy at home.

If you are going to Tijuana to see and enjoy old Mexico you have made a big mistake. Tijuana is a growing, thriving, modern city and it has all of the good and bad that go with it.

[Edited on 12-29-2005 by Bruce R Leech]

David K - 12-29-2005 at 07:32 AM

As an American, the last thing I want to eat in Mexico is American fast food... So, I hope Mayor Hank doesn't expect the McDonald's and KFC's will increase tourism!

I also recognize the infectious desire of other countries to have what we in America have, ie. McDonald's and KFC... If they weren't wanted, then they wouldn't be 'popular'... and successful.

I hope (and know) the taco stands will never disappear... and like the prostitutes of Tijuana, Jorge Hank will find a way to license them!

wilderone - 12-29-2005 at 09:53 AM

Bruce, I think you're off base this time. There are many cart vendors who support themselves and who will be out of a job. Secondly, they provide a cheap meal for all the locals who enjoy their food. Third, street vendors have a place in commerical society no matter what city - in San Diego there are coffee carts, carts with ice cream, hot dogs, beer, fruit. Also, TJ relies very heavily on tourism - the daytrippers who want their photo taken on the back of a striped donkey, to experience uniquely Mexican food (al pastor tacos from a cart or fruit cup). Yes, TJ is a growing city, but to turn their backs on something that makes it unique is a mistake. A tourist who crosses into Mexico wants to see Mexico, not more of San Ysidro. Many modern cities embrace their past and make an effort to preserve history - to provide a glimpse of where they came from. San Diego's Old Town, with its dirt streets and old buildings and even docents in period costume; civil war parks, all the "historic" downtowns of Tucson, Sacramento, Reno, etc. The food cart vendors have their place in Tijuana. If there is a problem with taxes and sanitary conditions, then they should be licensed. Mexico is midguided when it comes to tourism - they think that only highrises and fast food chains will create a suitable tourist environment. This is so totally wrong. If they eliminate "Mexico" from Tijuana, the word will soon be, "don't bother - it's just a big, crowded town with fast food joints. Not worth the time to cross. Go to Old Town where there are some street vendors."

turtleandtoad - 12-29-2005 at 02:04 PM

The thing I can't figure out is how bajacaribe got from taco carts in TJ to US military kidnapping and torture in the same rant :?:

Think this might be someone with a hidden agenda? :?:

Frank - 12-29-2005 at 03:56 PM

Kidnapping and torture is hard work. Taco carts provide a quick and easy meal. Can you see it now? :biggrin:

turtleandtoad - 12-29-2005 at 04:18 PM

OH, I get it, to find the US military secret torture chambers, just look for a congregation of taco carts outside a nondescript building in TJ. :lol:

Taco Carts - Legal or Illegal

bajacaribe - 12-29-2005 at 07:43 PM

I don't know if most carts are operating illegally. The size of their business makes them exempt from a lot of regs that apply to larger businesses.

I do know that most of the cart operators I know (for past 20 years) barely make it. They are trying to get out from under unlivable wages at maquiladoras and retail shops (and McDonalds, KFC) instead of turning to dealing drugs or crossing the border to make five times more money as an illegal alien.

If the rich people move the poor people into deeper poverty, more of them will cross the border (illegally into the US) just to survive.

It used to be fairly easy to make a decent living in TJ (by Mexico's standards) but now, with so many cartels from other states here, loss of US Tourism because of border crossing delays and five times as many 'deportees' the quality of life for all here has dropped way down.

You did bring up a good point.. 'legal business licenses'. The rich are paying off the authorities to avoid regulations and paying of taxes... get it ? The small business owners here (without connections) pay much more in taxes, fees and licenses than do the rich corrupt corporations who are driving out and down all of the smaller businesses...

The people engaged in the 'underground economy' are eeking out a living under the oppression and corruption of rich men who steal everything they can from anyone they can... The powerful corrupt leaders are the traitors and the poor are the ones running the carts...
Quote:
Originally posted by Dave
Quote:
Originally posted by bajacaribe
Who would you rather give your tourist dollars to?

A. A local family owned taco cart who work hard (12 hours a day)
to serve you cheap, fresh, healthy food who will spend your money

B. To Rich Land Owners and Corporations who care nothing about culture, tradition and poverty who will use your money to build

I would rather give my money to either that have legal business licenses and pay taxes.

Most carts operate illegally and thus withhold tax support for educational and medical services that benefit all Mexicans.

Mexicans who engage in the underground economy rob from Mexico's poor. They are traitors.


[Edited on 12-30-2005 by bajacaribe]

bajacaribe - 12-29-2005 at 08:07 PM

Well, just because I was falsely arrested and denied my right to a phone call (reason: Bush abuses Iraqis, so you have no rights... son of a Bush) doesn't mean I have a hidden agenda.

Life on the border (or life anywhere for that matter) is totally related to Bush's and the Military's policies. The number of poor people in the US has doubled twice under his watch. What do you think that does to tourism abroad (and for Mexico and Canada) ?

What happens to taco vendors in TJ (like any tiny family owned business anywhere) is a litmus test to the health and security of any economy. Like studying frogs or algae to see patterns and trends that have great impact up and down the food chain.

If things are so tight for money in TJ (or any other city) that the authorities and the rich have to ban, criminalize, get rid of or hide their taco carts and beggars to increase their cash flows, then we all have much bigger things to worry about than the beggars and the taco carts.

In the 80's, when US reputation was good abroad and we had fewer military bases occupying foreign lands and holy lands our security was high and so was our cash flow. Noone cared about the beggars and the taco carts (in any town) because everyone that worked or had a business had great cash flow.

When people feel insecure or have too much idle time on their hands, they start to look down at and pick on the weaker memebrs of their societies. When excessively rich and corrupt people see the slightest drop in their cash flows, instead of working harder they try to take away opportunities from the less rich and the poor.

Right now a handful of rich, corrupt men worldwide are reaping profits from oil and land grabs while we are being distracted by 'war on terror' and torture. The ones doing the torture and the ones driving it are gaining ten fold amounts of cash and power by taking away freedoms and money from the poor, worldwide.

They destroy cities and industries (mom and pop types) bankrolled by our taxes (and indebtedness to foreign banks - owned by their friends) then they reconstruct (using cheaper materials, artificial foods, bypassing permits and laws) using our tax money to provide us, in the end with less money and less value in goods and service than we had before...

What happens to taco carts is TJ and what happens to the now 60 million homeless/impoverished in the US is a direct result of the same type of corruption that wants to have it all.
Quote:
Originally posted by turtleandtoad
The thing I can't figure out is how bajacaribe got from taco carts in TJ to US military kidnapping and torture in the same rant :?:

Think this might be someone with a hidden agenda? :?:

bajacaribe - 12-29-2005 at 08:56 PM

I'm not sure if the Mexican people want these things. If they have been programmed by media to Want these things, then they are not as well informed as we are in the states, where the trends have been going away from bad fast food (at least among highly aware or highly educated people).

Here is a great resource for seeing facts on what is happening with business, tourism, economies and attitudes on both sides of the border see this great detailed study.

http://www.icfdn.org/publications/blurredborders/documents/B...

It actually covers most of what we have discussed including how post 911 measures have impacted the border and trade, etc.

Actually, more Whites in San Diego visit Tijuana than do latinos according to that study. As far as Mexicans coming to TJ, I do not think they care much about anything, except how to cross that border... they do not come to TJ for culture or politics, they come to make money to send away from TJ (or the US) back to their home towns. They do not spend much more than is necessary to go to work, escape arrest, detention (and in the US deportation)
by bribes in TJ and send most of it back to their town. Tijuana sees very little of the money from the pockets of Mexicans that come here. Yet, we're talking hundreds of millions in dollars spent by tourists who do come here to see Mexican Culture.

The purists will say that TJ is not much for Mexican Culture, but compared to the cities the tourists come from, TJ is very much Mexican Culture including the taco carts, the donkeys, the street artisans and craft people that sell things a tourist cannot not readily buy in their own home towns....

That is why people travel... to 'get away' from what is the same and familiar. The point of tourism is to spend money in strange, unfamiliar places. Where things are not perfect and 100% sure and safe... the excitement of taking some calculated risks...

McDonalds and Jack in the Box have stories about tainted meat (bought on their own black market channels) that make a bad taco look like a 2 hour alka-seltzer moment. When you visit a place after a few times, you learn which cart has quality (takes good care of their perishables) and which ones don't. In fact, it's easier to find out which carts are safe than to find out which McDonald's or KFC has bad meat, unsanitary conditions or sick workers.... because of the high turnover and 'rush, rush' pace of the whole 'fast food' concept.

Now, the mexicans that really want the things you think that I have or want (nice things) they already have and can have by going to Plaza Rio or other 'commercialized, corporate' shopping plazas.

Revolucion is the core for tourism. It's a place where two cultures (or multiple cultures) come together. It should not be Americanized, especially when the only ones that benefit are the rich land owners. Geez, one guy owns like 4 or 5 restaurants and each menu looks the same and has prices 2 or 3 times higher than every other restaurant around. So, the tourist gets ripped off by paying twice as much for smaller portions. The same people that used to run their own restaurant or cart before he 'took over' and monolpolized the place, are now doing the same work for less money. How often do they get sick without the extra money for medicine and health care ? And the rich guy gets richer at everyone else's expense... It's a WIN, lose, lose, lose proposition.

I'd rather see Tijuana DO IT RIGHT, instead of just falling in line with the rich and greedy. What does 'growing, thriving, modern city' mean ? It's growing, that's true, based on lies that life in the US is easy with easy money and because the government and corporate leaders have failed to stabalize the interior (because they sold out the land and machines to other greedy corrupt rich corporations that want the people to bail, so they can buy more land cheap).

Thriving, well, drugs and violence are doing real well. If the carts stay, they will thrive too... that would be a good thing. Modern. Well, if modern means they start having the best of this and the best of that, that would be great. Let's pass on world class techniques and practices to all the people (even the poor ones) so that they can all rise up to world standards without being pushed into poverty of homelessness.

If modern means let all the 'old' things be discarded and replaced with 'new, better' then I want none of that.

I saw that type of modernization in the U.S. for the past 30 years. You know, the modernization and progress that ran people out of their family homes on small farms and 1/2 acre lots and shoved into little over priced boxes called 'condominiums' where they now have more conflict, more expenses and live in poorer condiitions than before their communities were 'modernized'.

Rich people that want what you have often use phrases like 'it's time to modernize. Let' progress into the future...' as they are taking away your house, car or business to make way for 'better ones..." (meaning the ones they are building for you that are smaller, cheaper made, burn more fuel or give you less profit or wages than you had before).
Quote:
Originally posted by Bruce R Leech
the Mexican people want these things

Tijuana is not there just for the Americans. far moor Mexicans flock to Tijuana than do Americans and Canadians, and I think they want something different than what they are used to also. many Mexicans cant get visas to cross to the USA and go to TJ for a change in life style.

when people come here on vacation they like to think that every thing should be just the way they like it, but don't forget there are lots of people that live here and don't tell them they cant have the nice thing that you enjoy at home.

If you are going to Tijuana to see and enjoy old Mexico you have made a big mistake. Tijuana is a growing, thriving, modern city and it has all of the good and bad that go with it.

[Edited on 12-29-2005 by Bruce R Leech]

movinguy - 12-29-2005 at 10:19 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by bajacaribe

Right now a handful of rich, corrupt men worldwide are reaping profits from oil and land grabs
Quote:


Dude - that would pretty much describe the last 100 years anywhere in the world. :o

turtleandtoad - 12-30-2005 at 08:20 AM

I think this thread has gotten a little off-topic and should be moved there.

Hey! It's okay

Baja Bernie - 1-2-2006 at 08:49 AM

Wander around San Diego, from the bay to about 40th street and National City to University Ave and you will see Tamale stands--tacos will be next and the city doesn't even bother to license them. Ice cream venders push carts all over the place. Wanta buy eggs, fruit, or water--just wait for the unmarked Step Van to come into your area.

Reversing roles???? Those guys can just bring their carts up here--no problem.

Out front of Miller's Market at 30th and C street best tamales anywhere--five different fillings.