Nothing to worry about from food trucks

THURSDAY MORNING EDITORIAL — As expected, Kamloops City council gave the green light at a public hearing this week to a proposal to expand the presence of food trucks in the downtown core.

The idea came up a few weeks ago and, since it required some zoning chances, was dealt with Tuesday evening. Two specific locations are being designated — one at Gaglardi Square and a rotating one at the Civic Building.

This development seems like a big deal to some people but it’s a pretty minor change. It became all about hours of operation, limiting locations and worry over whether the trucks would sell chips and pop or real food.

Such trucks are highly popular in other cities and they do just fine. Here, we need a pilot project to see if they’ll work.

The concern centres on the impact on downtown restaurants. Really, they’ll be just fine. The downtown core has an excellent selection of restaurants featuring all types of ethnic food and styles to suit all palettes.

The restaurant business is tough, and some of them come and go within a year, but many of our downtown restaurants have been around for many years. A couple of food trucks won’t be a problem — they’ll add another bit of variety and fun to being downtown, and that will be good for all the businesses there, including the restaurants.