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Shipping containers are more likely to conjure the image of an endless supply of toy s and trinkets for the big-box isles than of open air markets and micro-enterprise. But the fairly standard size and durable steal structure make containers ideal for open air vendor kiosks. They are highly transportable, cheap, and because you are re-using an existing steal structure as opposed to requiring the mining and smelting of new steal, they are green. Shipping containers are made of durable steal so they can be loaded with any type of solid material, stacked nine high, and exposed to the harsh climates of the open ocean. Re-cycling these containers has long been the work of scrap metal experts and the occasional green builder. However, one of the most interesting new uses might be kiosk conversions. Because the United States has had a massive import/export deficit over the past few decades we have hundreds of thousands of abandoned containers stacked in ports around the country. Companies tend to abandon containers after 8-10 years of service because they can no longer depreciate their value.

Food grown is useless without a place to sell it and street or public markets of every type are where we should find food for sale to please every palate.

Content from the recent conference is now available including comprehensive notes from every session, photos, and video. Please see: https://www.growingfoodandjustice.org/

Last night I attended a community forum put on by a group of taco truck operators in East Los Angeles. The group calls itself "La Asociación de Loncheros L.A. Familia Unida de CA." The forum was part food festival. Free fare was reason enough to come. I helped myself to seafood tostadas served up by "Mariscos Coliman," a truck that regularly does business on East Manchester between Juniper and Alameda, in an unincorporated part of LA county just west of South Gate. With plenty of lime juice, green onion, and just the right amount of tomatillo sauce, the tostadas were delicious.

The forum was about more than just giving away food. It was also about raising awareness of the positive contribution taco trucks make to our community and others across the state of California. Earlier this year, the County of Los Angeles tried to implement a new ordinance tough prohibitions against the operation of taco trucks. Fortunately, when the county sought to enforce it, the superior court of Los Angeles held the prohibitory ordinance to be invalid. One hopes that the County has seen the light and will let the trucks operate in peace, but one can't rely on hope alone.

Anyone can sell. You don't need to have a fancy cart and shrink wrapped goods to sell things outside. Nor do you need training in business or public safety. Turns out that all you need is a drive way and some things you no longer need.

With a 20 year boom having come to an end, folks everywhere are looking for quick ways to earn some extra cash. Having gorged ourselves on consumer goods for years, people are now looking to unload them. As I told New York Times writer Patricia Leigh Brown, "This is the perfect storm for garage sales." Ms. Brown wrote an article about the garage sale boom that appeared in the New York Times on Saturday. http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/25/us/25garage.html?_r=1&scp=1&sq=garage&st=cse&oref=slogin

Garage sales are another example of open air commerce. Such sales help demonstrate the virtues of selling things outside. Homeowners all over the country are avoiding middle men such as the pawn shop and second hand store and selling things themselves from their own property. The cost savings are passed on to thrifty consumers. It's a win-win for buyers and sellers alike.

Swapmeets, flea markets, street markets, yard sales, are all activities of a kind, what kind? The kind that produces income.

Since the country began, and prior to that in Europe, and elsewhere around the world, bazaars and markets have been at the core of social and economic life. Now more than ever they are important economic players. 100 years ago in the U.S. public markets, indoors and out, were called upon to socialize new immigrants, provide employment opportunities, and make consumer goods and even produce, accessible to low-income and isolated populations.

Today the situation is much the same, privately held or publicly controlled, this variety of trading venues is getting a real workout, employed by many to supplement their income or experiment with entrepreneurship. Some jurisdictions have taken to limit the number of yard sales a family can have, but to what purpose?

My colleague Gregg Kettles was cited in the NYT on this phenomena, and it is no surprise, his work, my work and the work of scholars all over the country make clear how sales on the street has never gone away, it has always been employed by people, more so now with the economic plight that so many face. Instead of regulating it away, jurisdictions should seek to cooperate with populations and make available venues for people to help keep themselves solvent.