For Star subscribers: The owners of The Pit assembled food trucks at a former gas station on Tucson's southeast side. City code doesn't let them, but city leaders need to make it work.
On a bike ride in November, some friends and I arrived at East 22nd Street and South Pantano Road. It was midday, and there they were, just off the Loop next to the Pantano Wash: A group of food trucks arrayed on the grounds of a former gas station.
Since August, though, they've been struggling to keep it open. That's when city inspectors found problems that included the electrical set-up, bathroom access and parking. At the Pit, there might be a half dozen peddlers within 100 feet. And that's a good thing. That's what made the place become popular right away — an unusual destination on the city's southeast side.
On Jan. 8, a city inspector showed up with police officers in tow. It appears, according to city records, they were responding to a complaint of live music, alcohol drinking and dancing on site. They found nothing much. When the hammer came down, the protests came quickly. The online publication Tucson Foodie and KGUN 9 ran stories about it. A petition started by Donahue gathered more than 3,000 signatures.
That means both sides need to show some agility. The city needs to find a way to quickly adopt new code allowing peddlers to group themselves together like this.
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