Local News in Brief : Hot Dog Vendor Has Beef
Morton S. Diamond of Canoga Park has been happily selling hot dogs on street corners and sidewalks for the last two years, but he left his cart--known as “The Dog Pound”--behind Tuesday to travel to the downtown Hall of Administration with a complaint to county supervisors.
Diamond’s beef is that county health officials are tightening restrictions on hot dog vendors and threatening the livelihood of about 800 sidewalk entrepreneurs.
Under the new regulations, vendors in the San Fernando Valley can no longer get their carts inspected in Van Nuys but must take them to downtown Los Angeles. Hot dog vendors are now also required to have access to an “inside commissary” where their carts can be washed and stored overnight.
Diamond got the attention of at least one important listener. Robert Gates, director of the county’s Department of Health Services, assured the hot dog salesman and the supervisors that he would look into the situation.
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