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Califbill

"Mr. Luddite" wrote:
On 11/18/2014 7:39 PM, wrote:
On Tue, 18 Nov 2014 18:45:42 -0500, "Mr. Luddite"
wrote:

On 11/18/2014 5:16 PM, wrote:
On Tue, 18 Nov 2014 16:44:24 -0500, Poco Loco
wrote:

On Tue, 18 Nov 2014 15:51:25 -0500, wrote:

Does that mean we should be shooting illegal immigrants?

(just a joke, relax)

If we did that, who would do all of the hard work?

We would starve, nothing would be built and the grass would be over
the house.

And the Democrats would lose lots of votes!

I think the democrats are overestimating the number of immigrants they
are going to pick up. These people may start out as democrats but once
they get their businesses going, they will be republicans and
immigrants are the ones most likely to actually start a small business
... at least that is what we see here.
The biggest factor is usually oppressive regulations that actually
favor the same large corporations the democrats say they are against.
A company like Walmart can afford a compliance division and a staff to
sort through all of this red tape. Jose and Julio's little fruit store
doesn't stand a chance.

Nonsense.

Jose and Julio's are unlikely to start out anywhere near the scale of a
Walmart. Much more likely as a sole proprietorship or simple "S" or
"C" corporation. Very simple and inexpensive process to file.

Jose and Julio will most likely rent or buy a small, existing facility
to conduct their business in. Local codes and rules apply for an
occupancy permit but certainly not a major deal.

You are just talking about their business license (what they call a
business tax receipt in Florida ... fact)
It does not actually allow you to do anything but have a business
address and pay taxes on it. If you are just selling fresh fruit your
store needs to meet a number of health department regulations, you
need to have documentation about where ther fruit actually came from
(a lot of fruit can't even come into Florida) and it has to be clearly
labeled by country of origin. Your stand also needs to meet fire
codes, egress codes, building codes and have an assortment of signs
and placards, perhaps even sprinklers.
If you actually have the gaul to try to sell any kind of prepared food
you have not even scratched the surface of the rules you are dealing
with. When you hire someone to work behind the counter there is
another bureaucracy that kicks in (IRS, OSHA, the Labor department
several kinds of insurance)
All that and you might even have a DEA SWAT team come in and dump out
all of your fruit boxes looking for dope.

You really should talk to my buddy Ammet who runs the little stand at
the end of my street. He will tell you about things I forgot.

Sounds like you live in a nanny state. :-)

I've been through the process several times.
The first was for an engineering/metal fab company that ultimately
employed over 70 people in a 40,000 sq.ft. facility.
Took all of 2 or 3 days to purchase and install the required fire
extinguishers, update the exit signs, build an area to house the various
high pressure gas cylinders (argon, nitrogen, oxygen, propane etc.)

All requirements were outlined for us by a courtesy visit by the fire
department and building inspector. They came back a week later, did the
sign off inspection and we were open for business. 24 years later it's
still in business under different ownership and management.

While operating that business I also bought a small breakfast and lunch
shop that was going to close. It was in the park that my business was
located and was a popular place for people to have breakfast and get
lunches. The woman who owned it was retiring, so I bought it and hired
the former employees who had worked there to run it. I became very
familiar with the food handling requirements, inspections and licenses.
None were an issue to speak of and a license was granted in less than a
week. Biggest issue was keeping the grease traps clean.
Interesting experience but not my bag. I ended up selling it to the
employees on a simple time payment schedule that they could afford.

Then, years later, when I decided to open the guitar shop/performance
venue, I went through the process again. There was a bit of a
controversy because we had seating and a stage for live performances as
well as the retail area for guitar and amp sales. A question arose as to
our status being "retail" or "place of assembly". The codes are
different. After discussions between the fire department and the
building inspector that took all of about 3 minutes, the issue was
resolved and we were issued an occupancy permit.

Point is, it wasn't a very involved process in any of the three cases. No
"red tape" to speak of other than going to the respective town hall,
filling out the applications and equipping the buildings with whatever
was required by the fire department primarily.

Biggest issue was with the electrical inspectors for the guitar shop.
They tend to have their own ideas on what they like to see. I had done a
lot of new wiring myself for the stage, stage lights, etc. without
bothering with a permit, so I was a little apprehensive when he arrived
for the occupancy permit inspection. He checked everything out and asked
who did the new wiring. I told him "Me", expecting all hell to break
loose but he said it was all fine. I've learned that everyone needs to
feel they did their job so when he insisted that the exit lights be
changed to the newer, LED types and the electrical room have a sign on
the door saying. "Electrical Room", I was happy to accomodate him. That was easy enough.

You were lucky maybe. Have a friend who had a string of hotdog carts in
the San Jose area. Health dept. Agent says they need a hot water sink on
the cart. In case they dropped the tongs. Ignoring the fact that the cart
had a supply of spares for just that case.