Posted on 06/04/2009 10:30:00 AM PDT by GSWarrior
He sleeps under a bridge, washes in a public bathroom and was panhandling for booze money 11 months ago, but now Larry Moore is the best-dressed shoeshine man in the city. When he gets up from his cardboard mattress, he puts on a coat and tie. It's a reminder of how he has turned things around.
In fact, until last week it looked like Moore was going to have saved enough money to rent a room and get off the street for the first time in six years. But then, in a breathtakingly clueless move, an official for the Department of Public Works told Moore that he has to fork over the money he saved for his first month's rent to purchase a $491 sidewalk vendor permit.
Nothing happens when mentally ill men wander the street talking to themselves and drunkards pee in the alleys. Yet Moore creates a little business out of thin air, builds up a client base, and the city takes nearly every penny he's earned.
(Excerpt) Read more at sfgate.com ...
Here is a perfect example of how ‘government’ can save money and increase service at the same time. If some office is tasked to issue permits, why cannot that office perform ALL the necessary functions in one place. If private industry can ‘work from home’ efficiently, why does this poor guy have to run from one building to another, joining endless lines in order to obey city hall, why are don’t they enable all functions for a process to be performed in one place? And as for the bureaucrat that can take to the streets in order to put the good word on him, but cannot tell him where to go - what office does she ‘work’ for (is there a special Department of Big Brother Enforcement?) and why has she not been fired for inability to complete her task?
In fact, until last week it looked like Moore was going to have saved enough money to rent a room and get off the street for the first time in six years. But then, in a breathtakingly clueless move, an official for the Department of Public Works told Moore that he has to fork over the money he saved for his first month's rent to purchase a $491 sidewalk vendor permit. Nothing happens when mentally ill men wander the street talking to themselves and drunkards pee in the alleys. Yet Moore creates a little business out of thin air, builds up a client base, and the city takes nearly every penny he's earned.
Sorry, it was a $10 fine.
You guys should get a room.
Why should anyone need a permit to shine someone else’s shoes?
Is it a highly technical endevour?
Is someone’s health at risk?
Does it infringe on a third person’s individual rights?
Does the Dept. of Permits need a permit?
just big gubermint being “helpful”:
**Thousands lose jobs due to higher federal minimum wage**
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2251036/posts
Money changes hands, I guess.
BlazingArizona wrote:
This, in a nutshell, is why California is bankrupt.
..... financially, intellectually, and morally.
Hey Moore: how does it feel to be “rich”? :)
It is all about control.
FR is infested with Randian Internet Tough Guys.
He just became a CONSERVATIVE!
BINGO! Try opening a manufacturing plant in the USA these days...
The same logic applies to cab drivers. What skill set needed there???
Many cities in Califistan have unemployment above 15%
“Does the Dept. of Permits need a permit?”
Yes the do. They get them at the Dept. of Redundancy Dept.
The politicians have removed the environment and conditions that were favorable for opening of factories in the USA. In their place, they have constructed a system that is more favorable to CLOSING factories and industries in America's cities.
Taxes, regulation, crime, poor urban education... why would you bother manufacturing anything in the USA at all? None of these jobs are coming back ever. They are gone forever.
The only hope is to put taxes and regulation back to where it was at the turn of the 19th-20th century. Let the producer produce uninhibited. Don't tax them. Kick the welfare scum out of the cities.
Maybe he should leave America and make a living in China. I hear it’s easy to start a business in Taiwan too.
Never thouht I would write that.
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