If a city has a serious problem, then it should not implement any policy that would aggravate that problem even if the policy would address another serious problem. No proposed solution to a city problem should be implemented until the problem has been thoroughly studied. Unless a business provides a product or service that is valued by consumers, the business should not be allowed to make use of scarce city resources. A law that would disadvantage businesses of a certain type throughout a city should not be used to solve a problem that does not affect most areas of the city.
Business owner: Around noon in one section of the city, food trucks that sell lunch directly to customers on the sidewalk occupy many of the limited metered parking spaces available, thus worsening already bad traffic congestion. This led the city council to consider a bill to prohibit food trucks from parking in metered spaces in any commercially zoned area. This bill should be rejected since there is plenty of available parking and little traffic congestion in most areas of the city.
Which one of the following principles, if valid, most helps to justify the business owner's argument?