Editor, Manteca Bulletin,

This is in response to the pressure that local business put on the Lathrop City Council that has nullified capitalism in Lathrop.

 Lathrop brick and mortar food services felt they were losing business to taco trucks, hot dog vendors etc., so they successfully pressured the Lathrop City Council to pass heavy handed regulations and fees against the mobile vendors. This violated the free enterprise rights of the mobile vendors. The B&M’s have a right to get their own mobile service food trucks. They and the city council do not have the right to enact ordinances designed to reduce or restrict their competition.

What the city council has done is wrong headed and illegal. It is only a matter of time before a lawsuit is filed against Lathrop and the businesses that pushed for this action. In this country, doing something faster, better or cheaper has always been allowable. It’s called capitalism and it’s what drives the economy.