Philadelphia To Businesses: Frak You!
By Wyatt Earp | August 25, 2010
I challenge you to find an American city that is more business-unfriendly than Philly. If the rampant corruption, the crippling taxes, and the proposed blogger licenses aren’t enough to make you steer clear of this burg, this story should do the trick:
Kate Carrara is the Buttercream “cupcake lady,” selling frosted goodies from a converted postal truck to lines of devoted fans in Philadelphia. On Tuesday, she posted some bad news on her Twitter account, which has more than 4,000 followers.
“Sorry everybody, L&I confiscated the truck due to map disputes. Hopefully we can straighten it out or else we may just sell cakes from jail,” Carrara wrote.
Carrara provided a copy of L&I’s “Report of Removal,” with the violation described as “Vending in a prohibited area.” She was parked on Market Street near 33d in University City and had a line of people waiting for cupcakes, but had yet to start selling. She said three officials from L&I’s Business Compliance Unit drove up to her truck around noon and blocked her from leaving. One of the officials then drove off with her truck, she said.
“Don’t worry, I’m a very good driver,” the man said, Carrara recalled. “I’ve done this before.” (H/T – Willceau)
Yeah Philly, keep voting Democrat. Pretty soon you’ll have no businesses left.
(Thanks to Tam and Sebastian for the hit-alanche.)
Topics: Philly | 24 Comments »
August 25th, 2010 at 2:31 pm
Detroit? It’s always been one thing we could say proudly… that we’re not them.
August 25th, 2010 at 2:33 pm
Sebastian – True, but we’re catching them on the outside. Should overtake them in a few years at this rate.
August 25th, 2010 at 2:36 pm
It’s got to have something to do with that William Penn statue…..*wink wink*
August 25th, 2010 at 2:47 pm
I am devastated. That Cup-Cake Truck parks out front of my work all the time. What an awesome treat ! And now, she’s gone *sniff* *sniff* Where am I supposed to get my cupcake whose calories go right to my ass !
August 25th, 2010 at 3:06 pm
What does L&I mean? Lackeys and Ingrates? Losers and Idiots? Lowlife and Irksome? Limp and Invertebrate? Lackluster and Inbred?
August 25th, 2010 at 3:33 pm
L & I in Chicago means Lethargic and In the Family. Actually in IL here it is called the Department of Labor (IDOL). In PA it is the Department Labor & Industry.
Interestingly enough I happened to pull down their “Mission” Statement from the website.
It is as follows:
“Our mission is to improve the quality of life and economic security for Pennsylvania workers and businesses, encourage labor-management cooperation and prepare the commonwealth’s workforce for the jobs of the future.”
Actually the Mission Statement is probably similar to IL:
“Democrat?
Brother, Uncle, Second Cousin Twice Removed an Alderman, State Rep or have connections?
Welcome to IDOL. We can find a job for you, maybe even two or three — and you don’t even have to worry about reporting to work. Sit back, Blog on Daily Kos and Watch MSNBC all day.
IDOL will take care of everything for you…”
August 25th, 2010 at 3:57 pm
Somebody needs to tell these loopy & ignorant buffoons where to put that truck load of cupcakes they stole from hard working citizenry.
August 25th, 2010 at 4:02 pm
GroovyVic – EXACTLY!
Robbie – The article said she would by at JFK Plaza today, and probably for the foreseeable future.
Jon – Licenses and Inspections. Building inspectors, etc. Lot of corruption in that department – like every department in this town.
Ferrell – How are they providing “economic security” by taking away this woman’s business?
MeToo – Don’t think they didn’t sample the goods after they impounded the truck.
August 25th, 2010 at 4:42 pm
They probably ate all of the cupcakes.
L&I is useless when it is supposed to be doing something right, painfully slow when people need their help, and so corrupt.
Now, I want a cupcake. Dangit.
August 25th, 2010 at 4:43 pm
Wyatt: The last thing they are doing is providing thie woman Economic Security. What they are doing is very similar to what IDOL does in IL; F**K with your Economic Sexurity.
August 25th, 2010 at 4:48 pm
First they came for the ice cream, but I was lactose intolerant,
Then they came for the cupcakes…
August 25th, 2010 at 6:47 pm
ANY City in CALIFORNIA…OR Michigan…
Damn shame that it’s going to take a massive amount of suffering AGAIN to bring on a real recovery. We need leaders who recognize the socialism they are pushing has been tried and the graveyard of nations that it was tried in is HUGE!
August 25th, 2010 at 7:31 pm
Can you say vehicle theft,grand larceny and in general they have bad taste!!
August 25th, 2010 at 9:05 pm
Mayor Squidward must have been hungry.
August 25th, 2010 at 11:03 pm
RT – I already had two Mountain Dew Throwbacks today. WIRED!!!
Ferrell – Exactly. Frakked up.
Proof – And I loved the butter cream . . .
Robert – Not gonna happen until “I won” is thrown out of office.
George – Yes, yes, and yes!
Bob – I’m putting up a billboard of John Street with a “Miss Me Yet?” caption.
August 25th, 2010 at 11:46 pm
Not John Street!!! John Wrong Way Street!!! How about Bill Green the elder?
August 26th, 2010 at 8:46 am
Actually, it’s partly her fault and she admits it:
“I am fully licensed as far as I know, but I still do not know the boundaries of where I can and cannot be.”
University City is a very touchy place to vend. I remember when I was at Drexel, there used to be fist fights when “scab” vending trucks took the spot of an established truck. Finally, they issued spot specific ‘licenses’.
August 26th, 2010 at 10:51 am
[...] Protecting the City from the scourge of buttercream. [...]
August 26th, 2010 at 2:32 pm
Randal’s right. I was actually in the Buttercream Lady’s corner until I saw her interviewed on Channel 3 this morning. She as much as admitted she had been told previously she could not park where she was parked in University City. She decided to park there anyway. It was other vendors who complained to L&I about her that got her truck confiscated. Vendors take their parking spots seriously over there.
Anyway, the lady was nearly incomprehensible on Channel 3. She’s a lawyer, too boot — not sayin’ L&I is perfect, but this lady should know the law.
August 26th, 2010 at 2:40 pm
It’s not her fault: It’s ridiculous to set up boundaries where you can and cannot vend. And the fact that she has to add “as far as I know” to her claim that she is “fully licensed” is yet another indication that the laws are complex, and she isn’t quite sure what she is doing.
When licensing and boundaries are this complex, the Cupcake Lady really isn’t at fault at all!
(And I have grave doubts about the requirement of “business licenses” being effective for anything other than adding even more hoops, and more ways to tax businesses.)
August 26th, 2010 at 2:45 pm
I didn’t see Jim’s comment before posting mine, but I’m still on the side of the Buttercream Lady. If she’s like an ice cream man, then she’s not going to stay in any one spot for very long; it would be rather difficult to remember where you can and cannot park!
That, and confiscating a van (and everything in it) seems a bit draconian for something that really amounts to a parking violation.
August 27th, 2010 at 4:54 pm
Control of street vendors starts with the brick and mortar versions. They don’t want the competition from someone that they think has less costs than they do. (which isn’t necessarily true). They demand the .gov restrict these “interlopers”. One thing they don’t expect is that once you get the .gov involved in regulating what you also deal in, they will at some point start regulating YOU. At that point, you are in trouble, since you helped eliminate others who might have worked with you to fight the .gov.
As an example, there was a gun store in the Alameda County area who pushed hard for the county to eliminate the part time FFL dealers. They did, then when that was accomplished, the county turned around and eliminated them!
August 28th, 2010 at 10:07 pm
When I was a little kid in Chicago, there was a hot dog guy who came through the neighborhood every summer night ringing his bell and selling real Chicago dogs…
…until King Richard I decided that those vendors were an unsanitary menace and banned them from the streets.
I think later on all the street vendors were rounded up and allowed to only operate on State Street, and forced to install flush toilets or something stupid like that.
August 29th, 2010 at 1:18 pm
[...] they threatened to force bloggers to purchase a $300 business license fee. Then, they towed away the Cupcake Lady’s truck. Now, they’re fining people for not recycling enough: Of all the trash bags on all the [...]