Downtown restaurants are complaining that they just can’t compete against the pushcarts for lunch business. The Journal Star highlights Fahey’s, which just closed its doors for good, saying the carts pushed them out of business there.

My first thought was, they were located in the basement of the Commerce Bank building. Doesn’t that sound like a great place to go for lunch on a beautiful summer day: the basement? You think maybe location had something to do with their demise?

But then, on second thought, I can see their point. Here you have downtown businesses that have brick and mortar buildings, pay property taxes, and every day they have these pushcarts swoop in and steal the lion’s share of their business. I would be pretty ticked, too.

So what’s the answer? Outlaw pushcarts? No, here’s my suggestion: let the downtown restaurants set up their own pushcarts for free. In other words, define a perimeter and say, any restaurant within this perimeter is free to set up a pushcart on courthouse square. They have to get a permit, but there’s no charge for the permit. Wouldn’t this level the playing field?

My theory is that people like the pushcarts because (a) they like eating outside in the summer, (b) they like being able to have a wide selection of restaurant choices conveniently located near each other, (c) they enjoy the atmosphere of courthouse square where there are regularly-scheduled musical acts, and (d) the pushcarts have really tasty food.

So, if you can’t beat ’em, join ’em. But businesses that have invested in downtown shouldn’t have to pay an extra fee to join ’em, in my opinion.