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• Council discusses problems with lunch trucks, other code issues

• County historical museum highlights disasters with exhibit

• Top Model contender visits Lodi for photo shoot

• Wide World of Lodi: Grape Festival starts Thursday

• Thornton firefighter guilty of arson

• Regional Roundup

• Woodbridge Wilderness Area to remain closed indefinitely

• Lodi group 'adopts' Louisiana town

• Mokelumne firefighters, board headed to mediation

• Valley residents tell state they'd like more Delta-area parks

• Logbook

November 21st, 2009

• Logbook

• Holiday drive spreads cheer to U.S. troops

• Galt High students want board to approve open-campus policy

• Poisoning victims remain hospitalized

• Expert: Half a mushroom cap can be deadly

• Tokay grad files claim over Lodi's Grape Bowl

• Lodi Middle School holds annual Turkey Trot

• Regional Roundup

• No motive or suspect in shooting

• Sacramento cop arrested for alleged kidnapping

November 20th, 2009

• Acampo woman killed

• Salvation Army Kettle Kickoff

• Advocacy groups sue East Bay Municipal Utility District over Pardee expansion

• Regional Roundup

• Galt plans to help residents with energy-efficient projects

• Stable southeast of Lodi approved

• One year after a heart attack, Lodi's Judy Mims thanks rescuers

• National Guard troops return home in time for the holidays

• Real estate market gets on more solid ground

November 19th, 2009

• Operation: Christmas

• Logbook

• Suspect arrested after hiding in fridge

• Chase ends in crash

• Galt Joint Union High School Distric hires new superintendent

• Sales tax hike yields dividends: 5 new officers join Galt Police

• Lodi Unified School District board votes to cancel summer school for 2010

• Water surges in Mokelumne River yield more salmon

• Lodi City Council will consider redevelopment next June

• Lodi City Council plans to cap number of taco trucks at 22

• Corrections

November 18th, 2009

• Regional Roundup

• Paranormal group conducts second investigation of building

• Congress allocates money for local water projects

• Sarah Palin's book hits the shelves: Locals react

• Lodi man finds wife's ashes during police display of stolen property

• Galt City Council rejects study on rent stabilization

November 17th, 2009

• Paying tribute to a Lodian

• Lodi Budget and Finance Committee to look into ways to save money on employee benefits

• Regional Roundup

• Decision on summer school expected at tonight's Lodi Unified School District meeting

• Clements gets free water rescue boat

• Redevelopment to be discussed by Lodi City Council again

• Court reinstates death penalty for killer of Lodi grad

• Clarification

November 16th, 2009

• Correction

• Public Meetings

• City Council 'triple-dog dared' to ditch cars, use Lodi buses

• Sierra Adventure store to close after four years in Downtown Lodi

• Lodi's First Sip event showcases area wineries' latest vintages

• Three members of Lodi-area family fall ill after eating poisonous mushrooms they reportedly found at Lodi Lake

• Regional Roundup

November 14th, 2009

• Galt school district narrows superintendent search to one

• Regional Roundup

• Despite budget cuts, some Lodi Unified School District salaries continue to rise

• Watchful neighbor in Lodi helped bust suspected burglars

• New Galt city manager juggles job, family

• Despite an increase in homeless students, school districts look to bolster enrollment, raise revenue

• A first look at 2009 vintages at Lodi's First Sip wine-tasting event

The following stories have received the most reader comments during the last 7 days.

• The country's mess is our fault (168)
• Obama is not a moderate (130)
• Sarah Palin's book hits the shelves: Locals react (72)
• Lodi City Council plans to cap number of taco trucks at 22 (50)
• Public health care is a Christian option (33)
• The haves should help the have-nots (30)
• Tokay in, traveling to unbeaten No. 3 Grant for football playoffs (25)
• Government-run health care is a bad idea (20)
• Young woman fatally shot at Acampo home (17)
• Sierra Adventure store to close after four years in Downtown Lodi (16)

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Council discusses problems with lunch trucks, other code issues

Taco trucks, lunch wagons, commissary vans or even mobile food preparation units, as they're known in bureaucratese, have an ubiquitous presence in Lodi.

The city is home to the second highest number of the trucks in the county, and that significant number earned the attention of the Lodi City Council Tuesday morning.

During a conversation about the city's code enforcement, council members began discussing the laws regulating lunch wagons and the problems that often accompany the trucks.

Councilwoman JoAnne Mounce said she recently stopped at a local business that had a lunch wagon parked out front.

Mounce recounted that a man who had been eating at tables around the truck got up and urinated on the wall of the business.

"I'm sorry but that was enough for me," she said. "There are problems that need to be addressed."

Community Improvement Manager Joseph Wood presented the City Council with a report on the various code enforcement issues facing Lodi.

Council members indicated support for a vigorous approach to code enforcement, and City Manager Blair King suggested that city staff could come back in October with a "policy statement" of enforcement areas that council members could prioritize.

Wood said Lodi still has its share of problematic neighborhoods that have a gamut of problems from shopping carts stacked up on street corners to broken down vehicles lining sidewalks.

He said some lunch wagons, which are technically only allowed to remain at one place for am hour, instead remain at locations all day and well into the night. Some of these trucks often dump their waste illegally, run power cords out to their trucks and compete with established businesses.

And he said a good number of the trucks have business licenses that have expired.

While the city code does regulate vendors operating in public right of ways, such as sidewalks or streets, lunch wagons on private property pose a trickier issue.

Councilman Bob Johnson recalled that when he served as an interim council member about eight years ago, the lunch wagon issue arose. At that time, he said, a truck owner suggested the City Council just take an hour to watch how many city employees frequented her truck.

Johnson said he did, and couldn't believe the number of police cars, electric utility truck and public works vehicles that stopped during a lunch break.

But he added it may be time for the city to step up its enforcement. He said there is one truck he sees regularly at the same spot and it would not be hard for a patrol officer to check on it, even if that officer also patronized the truck.

"When he finishes his taco he should write a ticket," he said.

Contact reporter Andrew Adams at andrewa@lodinews.com.