Maybe it was just that everyone was "politicked out" the day after the big election. Surely the City and its Commissioners would not knowingly want to screw up trade and raise the cost of living in this town to its smallest entrepreneurs!
The Peddlers Ordinance went through Wednesday night on first reading without public comment, unanimously approved with no resistance from any Commissioner.
What this ordinance does is create a whole new class of black marketeers: All the people who are doing business here without a Peddler's License. City Attorney Bob Tischenkel told the Commission that the ordinance merely modernizes the definition of "peddler" and provides for uniform registration and licensing. But it goes beyond that.
"Peddler" is now defined as "any person moving from place to place without any permanent place of business, carrying or transporting goods, wares and merchandise and offering them for sale or making sales; or taking orders on future sales; or temporarily occupying premises or a motor vehicle to exhibit samples, take orders or offer to make sales; or using the telephone in the city to take orders or offer to make sales."
Remember, even your website is telephone-operated!
Ever mindful that "peddlers" are low-capital, starter business people, and ever willing to help its struggling residents achieve success and prosperity, the City would now assess watercolor artists and lemonade vendors a permit fee of $200. This is more than I pay to run a permanent gift shop on Duval— but I suppose that will change soon enough!
This City is always on the prowl to make more money so it can hire more personnel to enforce ever-more-pervasive parking and biking and mooring laws. And buy land they call "nature preserves" which they leave fallow and where they post signs that say "Private— No Trespassing."
My Chicken Store depends on purchases from many so-called "peddlers." Some of them are wealthy and well-connected; They come down from Miami to sell me my credit card service and many imported goods. Some are mid-range: The man-and-wife team from Broward who came down to custom-make my postcards. Others— most of them— are struggling artists who bring in a sack of color prints or a box of ceramic tiles or hand-painted metal sculptures.
My evening manager Kate says I'll now have to meet them on STock Island if I want to save them the $200 fee— and save my customers the additional cost it will inevitably add to their bill.
The City Commissioners should be the watchdogs against legislation like this which reduces the opportunity of its residents and increases their cost of living. What City services are my suppliers getting for their $200.
Is good, clean low-impact commerce being encouraged by this exorbitant gouging? I think not.
Sometimes, I think the City Commission won't be content until they do away with commerce, until they have us all in public housing and on the dole. Slaves always get affordable housing: It's one of the main perks. In contrast, free entrepreneurs have a choice, because they can earn money to pay for what they want.
Between the Peddler Ordinance and the Mooring Ordinance, the City seems determined to squeeze every last drop of affordability out of living here.