Philly’s Next Target: The Italian Market
By Wyatt Earp | September 13, 2010
Philadelphia wants to charge bloggers a business license fee. They want to confiscate cupcake trucks because they parked in the wrong place. They want to fine churches because the bells are an “annoyance,” while they watch a 19th Century church razed because they have no appreciation of history. Now they want to harass the vendors of the Italian market. I swear to God, this town does not know how to quit when it’s behind.
Last summer, L&I began sending leaflets to businesses, giving 45 days’ notice before one of the department’s 28 business-compliance inspectors shows up at every doorstep on a block, Burns said.
Sadly, the enforcement is petty and unreasonable in my opinion.
Sonny D’Angelo’s butcher shop was ordered to obtain a restaurant license, even though it is not a restaurant, because he is “preparing food” when he grinds his sausages. . .
Around the time L&I called on the cheesesteak shops about the seating, Health Department inspectors cited Joey Vento, who owns Geno’s, for wearing “excessive” jewelry at his grill. The citation was dropped after a re-inspection, said Al Weiss, Vento’s lawyer, who noted that Vento still sports his heavy gold neck chain and bracelet.
Councilman James F. Kenney said he had heard that an inspector threatened to cite C&D Appliances on Eighth Street for selling refrigerators off the sidewalk, even after workers protested that they were simply lifting them from a truck and moving them inside the store.
Wow. I dare someone to find a more business-unfriendly city than Philadelphia.
Topics: Philly, WTF? | 12 Comments »
September 13th, 2010 at 1:48 pm
I don’t think Nutter is going to be happy until he drives every last business away and turns the city into Camden. Business is down on 9th Street to begin with, and the city making ridiculous demands on merchants like Sonny isn’t helping matters.
Tony and Sukie, who own C&S paper supply, were ordered by L&I to remove their merchandise along the curbside because it was a violation. They have been displaying their goods that way for 29 years, and suddenly it’s a problem? Now that 50% of the products that they used to set out are no longer visible to shoppers, it’s drastically affected their business.
The merchants on 9th Street are decent people who work really hard, especially the produce vendors who are outside all year around. It’s infuriating to see them treated this way by the city.
September 13th, 2010 at 1:58 pm
Mrs. Crankipants – 100% agreed. It’s ridiculous how the Nutter administration is treating them. Hopefully, they’ll vote against this toad when he is up for re-election.
September 13th, 2010 at 2:16 pm
They targeted Sonny because he wrote a cookbook, “And Now We Call It Gravy” that he advertises on a sign in the window of his shop. That’s why L&I made him get a restaurant license, they just assumed he made gravy and sold it. He doesn’t. Cannuli’s and Esposito’s makes sausage too, but they left them alone. It’s unbelievable.
September 13th, 2010 at 2:30 pm
Another of my old locals. The fire barrels in the market always gave us fits but we let them slide because they had been doing it for over a hundred years. As long as they were kept down in the barrel we were told to look the other way. To my knowledge there was never a fire caused by a fire barrel. But it would only take one…
September 13th, 2010 at 3:50 pm
[...] (1) Having seemingly given up on bilking bloggers, Philly regulators have apparently set their sights on the Italian meat market. [...]
September 13th, 2010 at 5:40 pm
If my business were there, it would probably be shut down due to them thinking we were out to clean up the city.
So what is the city going to do when the last business closes and the last family leaves and it becomes a ghost town? Start ticketing rats, cockroaches, and wandering dogs?
September 13th, 2010 at 6:12 pm
I’m sure there’s one somewhere… probably in Zimbabwe.
September 13th, 2010 at 9:04 pm
Excuse me, I have to go pick up what is left of my brain.
September 13th, 2010 at 9:41 pm
Mrs. Crankipants – I wore the Cannuli’s shirt you got me while walking today. I got a lot of angry looks. They saw the “Got Pigs?” front, but not the Cannuli’s back. Thought I hated the po-po.
Captain – And if that happened, you’d be justified in shutting them down. But fining people – especially Aye-talians – for excessive jewelry? Are you friggin’ kidding me?
Kim – You were cleaning up the city! At least my part of it.
Bob – Or in one of the old Soviet republics.
RT – ‘Sploded out the back again, huh?
September 14th, 2010 at 12:53 am
You forgot to remind people of the need for duct tape.
September 14th, 2010 at 10:00 am
Yeah Snookie would get life… is that a bad thing???
September 14th, 2010 at 12:29 pm
Rick – This should have been a Duct Tape Alert, but I figured your heads exploded a few times already this week.
Captain – Nope. She would thrive in a women’s prison.