Street Food on Bardstown Rd./Baxter Ave.

[Robin Garr]

I have a sinking feeling that Metro Louisville would never allow a vibrant food cart scene to exist here.

Just a hunch.

I can't figure out what's happened to Mayor Jerry in recent years. This city used to embrace stuff like that, and so, in his early years, did he.

I can't figure out how to connect the dots yet, but I bet the Gannett newspaper is involved in some way.

Jerry is just trying to find a way to award all street food concessions to Cordish.

[Robin Garr]

Jerry is just trying to find a way to award all street food concessions to Cordish.

Or subcontract to the Ulmers so they can toss it to Centerplate or Budweiser?

It is my understanding that the 2 picnic areas at Victory Field are catered. I'm not sure they encourage or permit BYO food and beverage. It has been 2 years since I've been to a game there, so I could be wrong (which is not unusual).

Bill, or they could have changed, with Slugger Field as a model?

Here's what I can say for sure: Sometime after Slugger Field opened (holy moly, has it REALLY been 11 seasons at the "new" park?), and most likely in 2002, the first season after 9/11, I wrote an article about the then-new bring-in-food policy, making fun of their "security" claim. At that time, I cited Victory Field's bring-your-own picnics, based both on the Victory Field Website and on a contemporaneous Food Network program about ballpark food that featured Victory's picnics and Slugger's catered dining in the Club suites.

Now that you've raised the issue, I can't testify that this policy remains in effect. But I'm still snickering about Slugger's banker-based policies, and the train wreck that is Centerplate.

http://web.minorleaguebaseball.com/team1/page.jsp?ymd=20100416&content_id=9341230&vkey=team1_t484&fext=.jsp&sid=t484#Food

Looks like you still can. Not sure how they keep you from taking outside food out of the picnic area.

[Robin Garr]

Looks like you still can. Not sure how they keep you from taking outside food out of the picnic area.

Looks like they control it by having Churchill Downs-style cooler and container checks and limiting access for those items to the grass area.

I imagine that smaller food packets - sandwiches and chips and such - are controlled as much by the honor system as anything else. I've noticed that bag checks at Slugger Field have pretty much dropped out of sight, at least at Club Level gates, and I'm just as glad. As a matter of principle, if they did airport or Churchill-style bag checks, I think we'd probably give up our (shared) season tickets. I don't bring in food, but I tend to react badly to authoritarian tactics where they're not needed.

Had a funny conversation with my gf at the Bats game on Sunday.

She's an only child, so her dad used to take her to Auburn football games and keep her busy by buying her as much food as she desired. I am one of four kids, so we operated on the exact opposite principle: the only food you are eating is what we snuck in, so don't even ask to buy anything. Being that there always seemed to be a little one (and therefore a diaper bag), we had a pretty good selection to choose from.

Once a summer my parents would surprise us and actually offer to buy a few things from the concession stand. Must have been when dad's bonus check cleared...

Looks like you still can. Not sure how they keep you from taking outside food out of the picnic area.

Looks like they control it by having Churchill Downs-style cooler and container checks and limiting access for those items to the grass area.

I imagine that smaller food packets - sandwiches and chips and such - are controlled as much by the honor system as anything else. I've noticed that bag checks at Slugger Field have pretty much dropped out of site, at least at Club Level gates, and I'm just as glad. As a matter of principle, if they did airport or Churchill-style bag checks, I think we'd probably give up our (shared) season tickets. I don't bring in food, but I tend to react badly to authoritarian tactics where they're not needed.

I have a sinking feeling that Metro Louisville would never allow a vibrant food cart scene to exist here.

Just a hunch.

I can't figure out what's happened to Mayor Jerry in recent years. This city used to embrace stuff like that, and so, in his early years, did he.

I can't figure out how to connect the dots yet, but I bet the Gannett newspaper is involved in some way.

There's definitely some serious government opposition. Prior to helping open the BPig, I was looking into starting a food cart, but was having all sorts of issues with red tape. I'm sure there's a way to figure it out, but I bet there are either a lot of crazy hoops to jump through, or money needs to exchange hands

There are 2 hot dog carts in Jefferson Square across from the Hall of Justice and 1 cart on the SW corner of 4th and Main. They've been there for years, nice vendors, none of which strike me as City Hall palm greasers, so I wonder how they were able to get their permits. Hot Dog cart bias? Very curious. I'd love more cart options.

[Robin Garr]

There are 2 hot dog carts in Jefferson Square across from the Hall of Justice and 1 cart on the SW corner of 4th and Main. They've been there for years, nice vendors, none of which strike me as City Hall palm greasers, so I wonder how they were able to get their permits. Hot Dog cart bias? Very curious. I'd love more cart options.

Good question, Amy. There are also name-brand hot dog carts outside a couple of suburban home-supply stores. Maybe hot-dog carts using company issued equipment and food are easy to permit because they're made to a standard and there's a set procedure for inspecting them? Hard to say. Of course, thinking about their location, they COULD be run by nice people who have connections to local lawyers who help guide them through the process.

I heard from an industry buddy that a local restaurant wanted to open a food cart on Bardstown Road but the city stopped them because they were not connected to the sewer or some stuff like that. Just what I heard. But still it seems that Louisville is going backwards by not embracing and cultivating a street food culture beyond hot dogs and when local businesses want to innovate and diversify the city gets scared and shuts it down.

Oh, and if you have a question about hot dog carts, I own and operate one on 6th and Chestnut Tuesday - Friday. I wanted to sell chicken tikka masala kabobs but the state health regulations state that you can only sell certain foods (sausages and hot dogs) from a push cart. Boooo!! So I thought about evolving into a food cart/truck then I hear stuff like above... It's disheartening in a way.

Did food cart policy come up at the recent mayoral debate?

And if not, why not?

But seriously, is there a known stated difference on this issue, because as a rabid anti-party guy, it could be a decider for me.