PADRE ISLAND – Beachgoers visiting Padre Island may soon have more variety when dinning, as the Institute for Justice has helped open the door for food trucks to roll back into town.
According to IJ, Padre Island banned mobile food vendors from serving crowds of hungry beachgoers until 2016. When the city finally allowed food truck entrepreneurs in, local restaurant owners complained. In response, the city council allowed them to rewrite the ordinance and add two anticompetitive provisions.
The new provisions capped the number of food truck permits at 12 and required applicants to obtain the signature of a local restaurant owner.
IJ sued, and the district court struck down both the city’s permit cap and the restaurant-permission scheme that allowed local restaurant owners to act as gatekeepers to food truck permits, according to IJ.
Despite the ruling, the city is continuing to enforce food truck restrictions. The ruling is currently on appeal.
“The city’s disregard of its own citizen’s constitutional rights and its lack of transparency should concern everyone,” said Arif Panju, managing attorney of IJ’s Texas Office. “It is astonishing that we had to ask the court of appeals to order what the district court already made clear: the city’s food truck permit cap and restaurant-permission scheme are unconstitutional and therefore unenforceable. By continuing to enforce both restrictions, the city and its officials are violating a court order while flouting the authority of Texas courts and the Texas Constitution.”
Court records show no briefs are on file yet for the appeal.