Posted on 08/21/2008 5:57:56 PM PDT by ellery
CLAYTON, CA (KGO) -- Two young East Bay girls are trying to find out if you really can fight city hall. The youngsters are battling to get their produce stand back after the city of Clayton shut them down.
The mayor himself is getting involved in this issue; he says the produce stand, operated by two young sisters, had to be shut down because of public safety and a zoning ordinance. But members of the Lewis family say - we have just begun to fight.
On a Clayton street corner is where 11-year-old Katie and 3-year- old Sabrina Lewis had been selling their families surplus fruits and veggies - stuff like: Story continues belowAdvertisement "Zucchini, melons, tomatoes, radishes," said Sabrina Lewis.
They did it for maybe four hours on Saturday mornings to make a little money. They haven't sold a thing since the police showed up recently in response to one complaint to the mayor's office.
-snip-
As for the traffic issue, neighbor Terri Highsmith says there isn't one.
"On the weekends is when I mostly notice them selling. I come and go a lot and I've never seen any traffic problems," said Highsmith.
Clayton Mayor Gregg Manning disagrees. And wonders what Katie and Sabrina might do with that produce stand if the zoning laws weren't enforced.
"They may start out with a little card-table and selling a couple of things, but then who is to say what else they have. Is all the produce made there, do they make it themselves? Are they going to have eggs and chickens for sale next," said Manning.
-snip-
(Excerpt) Read more at abclocal.go.com ...
ping!
Glad this mayor isn’t fighting drugs or gang violence.
STOP THOSE VEGETABLE-SELLING CHILDREN!!!!!!
Oh for heaven’s sakes...bring back the common sense and the days of old. These days are fraught with nothing but envy, jealousy, anger, bitterness and you name it. Kids made money any way they could and at least they were working to make their own money or perhaps help out the family. We have too many busy bodies butting their noses into other’s business. Yes, bring back the good old days where the nosy bodies were told off.
I know where the zucchini should go, much to the mayor’s discomfort.
It’s just about the city not getting any taxes, that’s all.
Yeah, heaven forbid they should earn a living with free enterprise the way most Americans used to do it before we became regulated to death. Also, I wonder just how do you make produce? Is it hard to make a head of lettuce for instance and what tools would one use to make one?
Triple Dose ping.......
Not sure if this is Nanny State or Gardening or Mom’s..........or all.......or none.
I report -— you decide :)
AMEN, AMEN, AMEN...
Can I have an AMEN from everyone here, please?
Too bad that there isnt a bunch of you folks in that area that could go get ahold of said mayor and bring him to a little “Come to Jesus” meeting.
Thanks for the post, dear Gabz! Your daughter can set up a stand. I promise not to report her to the mayor or anyone else. I’ll even be one of her best customers. :-)
Let me guess the political party of the ‘mayor’. The police should have just laughed in his face but the went the JBT route and stole the girls produce which violates the girls 5th Amendment rights.
“nor shall private property be taken for public use, without just compensation.”
If I lived in that area, you can bet I’d be buying something from that stand daily.
I only wish!!!!!
Oh good grief. This is one dumb mayor.
There isn't anyone to report her stand or my stand in the particular part of the county where live. As long as she has made it, I have made, or we have grown it, our stands and our signs can not be touched --- in fact I don't even need a license (tax) from the county. LOL!
Shame on those little girls! They may as well be stealing from Pedro Gonzales and his family! How is he supposed to send all his money back to Mexico if people are buying produce from those little girls?
/ sarc.
Amen!
Good. She can sell veggies, but if she sells cookies ... LOL.
The mayors head would explode if he passed by a Farmers Market.
OK, here's how they do it. The Clayton CA municipal code is online here. Now, assuming their home is zoned single family, residential which I assume is very restrictive, they can grow the crops:
17.16.020 Permitted uses--Principal. The principal permitted uses in the single family residential districts shall be as follows:OK, if Mr. Mayor and Officer Wiggims object to the sidewalk sale, sell it from inside the home.
A. A detached single family dwelling in each lot and the accessory structures and uses normally auxiliary to it;
B. Crop and tree farming and horticulture, not including the raising or keeping of any animals other than ordinary household pets;
17.04.100 Home Occupation. A “Home Occupation” is a limited commercial activity customarily conducted entirely within a residential dwelling, by a person residing in the dwelling unit, which is clearly a subordinate and incidental use of such dwelling as a residence. (Ord 357, 2001)
That’ll teach ‘em.
Ah, yes, the “legalize,” not the spirit of the law.
Amen!!!
Funniest thing I’ve read all day!
How about a harump
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JN99jshaQbY&feature=related
Insert Chesire cat grin here...
Regards
alfa6 ;>}
My daughter, and the little girl next door used to sell our extra home grown vegetables door to door to the old folks in our neighborhood. They’d load up my daughter’s stake wagon, and hit the streets. Their free market endeavor usually ended when they had made enough money to go buy hot fudge sundaes at the local Ice Cream Parlor.
That’s a load of bullcrap. These kids are making honest money with their own hard work. They should be commended for their dedication, not harassed by the local control freaks.
LOL. That's one of my favorite movie scenes.
How sweet.
I detest freedom-hating control freaks.
You and me both. This kind of petty stuff is ridiculous.
One doesnt exactly get much foot traffic inside the home. :-) Maybe within the property line?
Ya sure about that?
I hear ya.
Situations like this really divide me. I applaud the firls their entrepeneurial attitudes, and I’m glad the parents are supporting them, and it was wrong for their produce to be confiscated, BUT — and here is where I get divided — the parents should have been a bit more diligent and checked to make sure such an enterprise was not against the current town ordinances.
I knew that my produce stand was not in any violation of any county ordinances beause I checked before I started selling produce, but when my 10 year old wanted to start selling lemonade, I rechecked with the county to make sure that was still in compliance, because she uses powdered lemonade mix purchased in the store, but her lemonade falls into the same category as my jams, not my produce. It is not being resold in the purchased manner, but a new product is being made from the ingredients.
I sure hope I’m making sense here..........it’s a simple concept, until I start trying to write it out :)
Mayor: “That’s a nice little produce stand you got there, girls. Be a shame if anything were to happen to it.”
"They may start out with a little card-table and selling a couple of things, but then who is to say what else they have. Is all the produce made there, do they make it themselves? Are they going to have eggs and chickens for sale next," said Manning.
MAKE the produce? MAKE It?
What's this moron doing in public office to begin with?
We’ve haven’t gotten into the baked goods ..... YET. Been too hot, plus it’s peach season right now, so we’ve been doing peach jam this week. We’re out of peaches and need to get more, but we still have 30 batches of jam worth of blueberries and strawberries in the freezer.
Maybe they wouldn’t have to take it inside, just off the sidewalk and within the bounds of the lot itself.........
Well I wouldn't hire him. Would you?
Wow. Peaches are my favorite. That’s an awful lot of time and work.
I think the bigger story is that there is actually farm land left in Clayton.
From KVs Gramma tells me Seeno has built over just about everything from Brentwood to Clayton and trying to build on the foot of Mt. Diablo.
I guess all that’s left is government work then.
The mayor has developed such a habit of exerting tyranny over the population of Clayton, that he has no problem with crushing the entrepreneurial spirit of young girls. He is belongs to a legion of public officials who have let the power they possess transform them into tyrants with the mental sickness of sadism. There are too many of them. The mayor of Seattle, Greg Nickels, for instance, is one of them.
This sorry excuse for a human being should have sent a nice person to give the girls advice on how to make their produce stand comply with a modest level of expectations. Not too excessive; just enough to teach them the way to meet standards.
The mayor should have seen it as an opportunity to teach these young girls the value of earning a dollar and not an opportunity to shove in their mouths a bitter pill that they will never forget.
We love peaches here also, but I had never thought to make peach jam until another VA FReeper put the idea in my head, about a week or so ago.
We’re gonna make more this weekend :)
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