TASTE
The “FED” report encourages more lenient
regulations regarding sidewalk vending and
food trucks, which are currently only allowed
in venues like the Davis Farmers Market.
cial events or on private property
where retail sales are permitted.
There has been pushback from
local businesses concerned about the
competition. Tamimi says she has been
getting calls from restaurant owners
since the city council approved the plan.
“The feedback was, ‘Are you going to
do something crazy and just let food
trucks be everywhere ... totally sucking
customers out of our restaurants, when
we’re already struggling?’” she says.
But at the council meeting that
approved the plan, Mayor Pro Tem
Gloria Partida noted the city already
has a testing ground for sidewalk
vending and food trucks: the Davis
Farmers Market, the original hotbed
of Davis’ food revolution. “It made me
wonder how the restaurants around
the market fare when there are a ton
of people that come out,” she says.
“My guess is that they do very well.”
The staff is also considering plans
referenced in the “FED” report to devel-
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op a pilot program for urban farming
on the greenbelts that snake through
Davis neighborhoods. “So long as public
access is not restricted on the greenbelt,
having residents enhance portions of
the greenbelt through gardening efforts
has the potential to help in overall beau-
tification for the enjoyment of the com-
munity,” they wrote in their response.
Nearly one year after the city coun-
cil’s approval of the “FED,” the authors
are divided on its success. “My vision is
personally far more radical,” says Brin-
kley. She dreams of a city as daring as
Belo Horizonte in Brazil, which declared
food a right of citizenship in 1993 and
carried through with simple programs
like low-cost cafeterias and partner-
ships with local farmers — efforts she
thinks could also help combat hunger
in Davis. “To be flat, nothing concrete
has happened (in Davis),” she says.
Evans, with her decades of ex-
perience in City Hall, is more opti-
mistic. “I understand the slow pro-
cess,” she says. “I would have to say
that one has to count things other
than brick and mortar and policy as
concrete. ... I think it takes a while
to get the wheels in motion.”
For now, the authors are continu-
ing to meet with council members and
other stakeholders to move toward the
food system they envision. “We would
not have our Davis Farmers Market
today if we had waited for the approval
of everyone,” Evans says. “If one waits
for approval from the status quo, one
never gets anywhere, does one?”
Jennifer Fergesen is assistant editor
of Comstock’s. Read more at jcfrgsn.
journoportfolio.com.