economy

On Monday, Feb 28, the town of Chapel Hill will hold a public forum in response to Lex Alexander's petition to allow food trucks to operate on private property within town limits. Food trucks, such as Parlez-Vous Crepes and Only Burger, have a dedicated following in Durham and Carrboro, but are prohibited by zoning ordinances in Chapel Hill and Raleigh. These businesses are currently required to meet state health department regulations. At the local level, they pay for a variety of licenses, including a business license and an itinerant merchant permit. In Durham, they are required to be "tethered to a brick and mortor kitchen" and they also pay "rent" to the business whose private property they operate from (same as in Carrboro). 

There's been a fair amount of hand-wringing about the president's inability to improve the job market, especially without a cooperative Congress. While the president has little he can do directly, there's one idea that hasn't been considered: cracking down on overtime violations under the Fair Labor Standards Act.

For 40 years, workers and businesses alike preferred a loose enforcement policy on overtime. Many workers who spend far more than 40 hours a week on the job are insulted at being considered an hourly worker, or a non-professional. There was a greater desire for flexible schedules than for time-and-a-half. The notion of overtime is so quaint that most people have probably forgotten that the laws exist and can be used to protect them against unreasonable demands of management.