What a relief. "Peddlers" who already paid their licensing to sell their wares at Mallory Sunset are not going to be taxed twice if they sell their wares off-Mallory— to the Chicken Store, for example.
It was not the "intent" of the Peddlers Ordinance to double-tax the good vendors of Mallory Square, according to City Attorney Robert Tischenkel. Goodness knows, "intent" is everything nowdays. The City Commissioners breathed a collective sigh of relief and unanimously approved the ordinance on its final reading Tuesday night.
Not everyone can be a Mallory vendor. The Chicken Store buys mostly items that are not produced by Mallory vendors. Some of the vendors travel here from Broward. Some work out of their (unaffordable) Key West homes. Some do the flea markets on weekends. They, apparently, are the peddlers targeted to pay an annual license fee of $200 for the privilege of pounding city pavement in search of sustenance.
. . . Which is a good thing. We already have enough successful businesses in town. Businesses with a "permanent or fixed place of business," where your licensing fee is only $165 a year. That's what "sustainability" is all about: averting change before it can happen, protecting the status quo, forstalling competition, making the world safe for those of us who were here first.
If young people want to earn themselves a real living, they should not try to start a business. They should swallow their pride and work for somebody else. The City, for example. I was elated to learn from the Commission packet that City bicycle cops are budgeted by the City at $50,270, plus training and equipment. why would anyone want to make chicken door-stops or paint roosters if they could instead make $32,500 a year plus $5,329 overtime, life and health insurance, retirement package, uniform allowance, and education incentive by pledging to uphold the law, and ticket bikers who have failed to register their bicycles by January 1st?
(Okay, not January 1st— more like January 1st plus 120 days. The City Commissioners, reporting an avalanche of resident opposition to mandatory bicycle registration, decided Tuesday to table this whole Bicycle-Registration mess for four months, in the hopes that the bicycle renters and vendors will come up with a bike registration plan that everyone will love.)
A resident recently complained to me that a good deal of our Poinciana affordable housing is being made available to poor, underpaid law enforcement personnel. "Of the government, by the government, for the government!" say they. How can anyone grasp this, and still refuse to apply for a government job?
But back to "intent." The whole process of voting, electing and formulating public policy has become so complex and exhausting, it is probably a good thing that we have people like the City Attorney or the Secretary of State or the Supreme Court to decide the "intent" of these troublesome things: laws and ballots. That way, we need not clutter our pretty little heads with the details, and can go back to stuff that matters, like "Who Wants To Marry A Millionaire," "Survivor," and "Big Brother." (Where did they get the idea from that show's name anyway?)
We can leave everything up to the government now. Just so long as the Commander in Chief, and the Mayor, and the City Attorney is somebody with really GOOD intent.