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Food Truck Vendors Sue Monrovia Over Parking Ban

MONROVIA (AP) — An organization representing more than 100 gourmet food truckers is suing the city of Monrovia, challenging a recently enacted law that bans rolling restaurants from parking in the Los Angeles suburb's Old Town shopping district.

When they adopted the law in January, Monrovia officials said they wanted to protect local restaurants and also maintain the ambiance of their town's core shopping district and other neighborhoods. Thirty-seven thousand people live in Monrovia.

Southern California Mobile Food Vendors Association attorney Jeff Dermer said Thursday state law only allows cities to pass ordinances regulating food trucks for safety reasons. He says laws cannot be adopted simply to protect existing businesses from competition.

Dermer says he hopes the lawsuit will set a standard that all cities follow in regulating food trucks in the future.

(© Copyright 2011 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)

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