“Is City Council Unfriendly To Small Business?”
That’s the question asked by a billboard on the side of a Port Angeles restaurant.
What say you?
What say you?
posted by Tom Harper at 10:54 PM
Thursday, April 08, 2010
About Me
- Name: Tom Harper
- Location: Olympic Peninsula, Washington, United States
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26 Comments:
Which restaurant?
I say that I don't have a clue because I've never had a business in PA.
I can tell you this though, just from overhearing things. For businesses requiring state licenses and permits they seem to be getting damn expensive.
It's that Mexican restaurant on Lincoln, next to Safeway.
The city, the state, the various suck-your-money and do nothing business "helping" entities all contribute to the UNFRIENDLY to small business issue.
The B&O tax, the Department of Revenue's fees (higher than the sales tax they require be sucked out of customer's pockets), L&I, the permits, the parking fees for employers to have their employees park (thank you PADA), the monthly forced dues (again, thank you PADA), the higher utility rates, the multitudes of codes and enforcement regarding signs and banners, and sidewalk temporary signage, the permits (with substantial penalties for missing a deadline) to the various county entities (health department, amongst others) along with the UBI fees, and the corporate renewal fees ALL CONTRIBUTE TO THE WHOOSHING SOUND that is money being sucked out of a small business' cash register. Then, add to that all the various business groups (Chamber, etc) that want unbelievable sums of money to play with them, for limited support, and for no protection from MORE fees (they do NOTHING to keep the city council from raising any fees, do no bargaining, do nothing that a "normal" working non-bullshit Chamber does -- they are a far cry and a poor excuse for a Chamber!!). Meanwhile, the school district hardly even educates the kids -- and it's a culture of young Mom's giving birth to increasingly stupid offspring (how many 20 year old single mothers have YOU met in this town?), and dumb-as-a-rock wanna be wiggers for fathers -- so good luck finding a decent employee. Customers all think that Walmart is the real god's gift to retail, and want everyone to have that model: cheap crap
The whole town is a big cluster f**k. Welcome to Port Angeles "big ego, nothing to show for it"
Tom, the Mexican restaurant that had such problems regarding their SIGN, and all the nonsense they had to endure because of this zoning and that code?
I don't blame them....they had a rough time with the city. It was totally un-business friendly. A shame too, because we've lost so many businesses to the sham that is our zoning and code enforcment harassment.
Big brother loves you.
As long as he can make money off you while telling you what to do.
They're putting a sewer line on S. Bayview, only a few places are hooking into it, three I think.
Getting connected to it is pretty expensive, we're not going to do it, it's getting expensive to take a shit.
Hahahahahaha
Well, jeez louise, I thought our local Mexican drug lord owned that place. Surely he can buy the city council ten times over and get what he wants. He seems to have bought the police force which blithely ignores his drug dealing.
The owners of the Mexican restaurant are hard working folks, trying to make a go of it here. The sign thing was ludicrous. Anything the City can do to make life difficult, they will do.
Well, jeez louise, I thought our local Mexican drug lord owned that place.
Which place is this? I live outside (thankfully) of the city limits so I don't know who the local mexican drug load in town is.
Well, I know some folks in the city that deal in drugs, but they're not mexican.
I don't blow whistles because it isn't my fight. Grow your own dope, it will solve a lot of problems.
Well, until big brother decides that there is some money in selling you a permit to grow it and fucking telling you how to grow it.
May we live in interesting times.
Disclaimer: I don't smoke dope, I have enough bad habits of my own, but I don't care if others do, I like the smell of it when I'm around them.
If you don't hook into that sewer line, I'm gonna turn you in, BBC. Sorry.
Rather obviously, there were former council members who were unfriendly to local businesses - unless you were a friend of theirs. These former council members were so corrupt (and just plain unpleasant as well) that they've left a bad taste that is lingering and tainting the current council.
I would hardly say the new council is unfriendly to business - small or otherwise. But they've had just three or four months to try and start undoing YEARS of damage done by Laren and Karry. I know shattered trust wounds deeply - but give them some time, eh?
And on a final note: If you aren't going to comply with existing codes (say for things like signs), then maybe you aren't quite mature enough to own or run a business. Get over it.
Sally is silly. :-)
They can't make anyone tie into the new sewer line that doesn't want to. But I did do a short post on it on my blog this morning.
Fresh is correct in a way, without some sign regulation some business owners would get carried away.
Interesting problem, I don't have a solution but I admire the problem.
IN RESPONSE TO YOUR FIRE DEPARTMENT COMMENTS.
THE FIRE DEPARTMENT WHEN ORGANIZED AS A PARAMILITARY ORGANIZATION ...LIKE THE MILITARY IS ONE OF THE FEW THINGS DONE BETTER BY THE GOVERNMENT.
I'VE BEEN BOTH...VOLUNTEER AND CAREER FIREMAN AND THER IS JUST NO WAY THE VOLUNTEER THE AVERAGE CITIZEN CAN REACH THE SAME LEVEL OF PROFESSIALISM THAT A DEDICATED FULL TIME STUDENT OF FIRE SCIENCE. TH JOB IS MUCH MORE THAN JUST PUTTING OUT THE AVERAGE HOUSE FIRE
Yeah, what Fresh said. I wouldn't say the old Council was "unfriendly" as much as "self-serving". But the new Council is too untested to say one way or the other. Definitely voice concerns, tell them what we'd like to see, but I wouldn't judge them based on the previous era. Not yet anyway.
The current council is too radical. Hopefully we can get some people who actually work for a living on the council and bring it back in line.
"The current council is too radical." Uh, could you please give just TWO EXAMPLES of why you think this is so - because that sounds ridiculous to me.
As for having people who "actually" work for a living on the council...Would you suggest we have more people like former council members who used their positions to boost their own private businesses? Is that what you'd consider more desirable?
I'll give you two examples: Max Mania and Cheri Kidd. Brad Collins is a third radical. Fortunately we can get rid of Kidd and Collins next year and replace them with Cody Blevins and Kaj Ahlburg. I hope Edna considers runnning again.
We need people on the council who have real jobs. Not "grocery clerks" and whatever Cheri Kidd does for a living. People that have written pay checks and made decisions. Not "writers" and "community activists". Not radicals, in other words.
Please stop repeating gossip about Larry and Karen. None of you people have any facts or even know what you're talking about. I sure hope Karen can find out who you are and sues you!
I sure hope Karen can find out who you are and sues you!
Hahahahaha, that cracked me up.
Someone needs to get a brain, our politicians can't sue us for our views.
So we need people on the Council who "actually work for a living"...But NOT people who work as grocery clerks? So it's all about having a very precise, certain job that then makes you worthy of being on the City Council? Forget notions of having citizen representatives - we need our local monarchs to run things?
And again, I ask for just TWO EXAMPLES of why this Council is "too radical." Naming names is NOT giving examples of "radical" actions by the Council. Please give actual EXAMPLES. Just TWO will do. If you can.
And if Karen Rogers could sue people because they don't like her...Well, she'd have done so already, and be a very, very wealthy woman, being that there would be such a large base for her to draw from.
Anyone else notice that "Fresh" and "The Watcher" sound exactly the same? I'm just saying ...
Cody Blevins, Karen & Larry,
Give me a break!!!!!!!
Tired of the nonsense said...
You seem to keep crying the same old tune. WaaaWaaaWaaa
cody blevins is a clerk in an electronics store. this is better than a grocery clerk? the stink of dick piling and the crooked clallam repugnicans is all over him. next up we have that self serving old hag edna peterson whose only accomplishment is kicking the farmers market out of downtown. round it out with kaj ahlburg , nothing more than a carpetbagging maggot here to feast on the rotting corpse of Port Angeles oh yeah, quite a lineup...
City Council has nothing to do with the CITY and the department heads who hate citizens of Port Angeles.
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