San Francisco Government Wants You On Welfare
It sure doesn't seem to want you to open a business, and you know, employ people and pay taxes. At least, that's what one has to conclude from the hell Julie Pries went through opening her ice cream parlor.
I repeat: Her ice cream parlor.
Not her toxic chemicals lab. Not her nuclear warhead assembly plant. '
The lady wants to sell you "house-made ice creams and exotic sodas (flavorings include pink peppercorn and tobacco)," according to a New York Times story by Scott James:
The shop also employs 14 full- and part-time workers.But getting it opened wasn't easy.
"Many times it almost didn't happen," said Juliet Pries, the owner, with a cheerful laugh.
Ms. Pries said it took two years to open the restaurant, due largely to the city's morass of permits, procedures and approvals required to start a small business. While waiting for permission to operate, she still had to pay rent and other costs, going deeper into debt each passing month without knowing for sure if she would ever be allowed to open.
"It's just a huge risk," she said, noting that the financing came from family and friends, not a bank. "At several points you wonder if you should just walk away and take the loss."
Ms. Pries said she had to endure months of runaround and pay a lawyer to determine whether her location (a former grocery, vacant for years) was eligible to become a restaurant. There were permit fees of $20,000; a demand that she create a detailed map of all existing area businesses (the city didn't have one); and an $11,000 charge just to turn on the water.
The ice cream shop's travails are at odds with the frequent promises made by the mayor and many supervisors that small businesses and job creation are top priorities.
The matter has also alarmed some business leaders, who point out that few small ventures could survive such long delays.
Ya think?
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