Another dispatch from the post-Hurricane Irma mess comes from Green Cove Springs, Florida. According to Clay Today, city officials rousted a food truck driver who wanted to provide food including FREE meals for anyone in a utility vehicle.
Why? Someone apparently complained and Mayor Mitch Timberlake agreed saying that the food truck operator should have asked the City first.
In response, I cannot improve on the account artfully provided by Clay Today:
"Had Roundtree decided to press his case at City Hall, he would have been greeted with a sign that read: “Due to Hurricane Irma, City Hall offices and services will re-open on Thursday, Sept. 14, 2017.”
Local attorney John Whiteman happened to take a photograph of the sign on the glass door, fully reflecting the blue skies-sunshiny day. “Not the best message because it gives the impression that no one's working when I'm certain that wasn't true,” Whiteman said, speculating that the city’s administrative leaders were ensconced in the security of the police station for the duration of the emergency, thus avoiding having to communicate with the general public about things such as food truck permits."
In the aftermath of a major storm in a community where the local McDonald's ran out of food at 2 p.m., city officials found the time to dispatch law enforcement to give the bum's rush to a small business meeting a community need. I can only imagine what might have happened to an enterprising 10-year-old who opened a lemonade stand. I presume nothing less than the SWAT team in full tactical gear would have sufficed to protect the interests of the local beverage industry.
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