How LA Regulated A Business Out Of Business
Nick Benetatos' business, Tam's Burger's, will close its doors in January 2013 thanks to the city's meddling. From The Blaze, via Jim P., Becket Adams writes:
The trouble between Benetatos and the city began after authorities decided his restaurant was a contributing factor to the area's crime rate.No, really.
"It has a nexus and a connection to a disproportionate amount of criminal activity," Detective Eric Moore, head of LAPD's Nuisance Abatement unit, told Reason.
But it's not as if Benetatos didn't try to work with the city.
The police asked him to remove payphones, so he removed the payphones. Then they asked him to remove tables for outdoor seating, and he removed the tables for outdoor seating (it resulted in a 15 percent drop in revenues). Then the city's zoning board ordered him to comply with 22 separate conditions, including hiring a full-time security guard, putting up fences, and installing a security camera system.
Needless to say, Benetatos couldn't afford to keep up with the city's demands.
"The LAPD wants to control my business and run it in their view of how it should be run, and I'm trying to run it in the view that I've been here for 30 years and know how it should be run, and I'm successful," he said.
Benetatos appealed the zoning board's conditions at a recent city council meeting. They turned him down.
The reason.tv video:
Who do these city council morons think will pay the taxes to fund all the unaffordable and stupid measures they and the idiot voters vote in? (And never mind doing the extremely simple math to figure out we can't afford all the stupid measures they voted in previously.)
I found out recently that a convenience store that I visit on an almost nightly basis has cameras, supposedly, that feed directly to the local police station.
I'm trying to still dig into it. But if it does, then I'm going to avoid that store and ask about what my fourth and fifth amendment rights are?
Jim P. at December 22, 2012 12:45 AM
Isn't this how government should be regulating? On a small scale? If the guy doesn't like LA regulations he can always take his business to a city with less ordinances.
bs123 at December 22, 2012 2:35 AM
Amy Alkon
http://www.advicegoddess.com/archives/2012/12/22/how_la_regulate.html#comment-3527076">comment from bs123Regulation here is a form of bullying, more often than not. They now have these housing inspectors who come around every three years. If my house were dangerous, I'd move or report a dangerous condition. But, instead, my landlord is being made to fix things that aren't problems -- things that weren't problems for inspectors for the last nine years (as long as they've had this program, which apparently allowed them to put on staff or keep on staff a few hundred people...can't remember which). You're not allowed to have...the dishwasher and garbage disposal cords "exposed." They need to be behind the wall. Why? I am not doing acrobatics in the small space under my sink.
My fence was not exactly perpendicular to the ground. It is an old wood fence. It wasn't going to fall over; it was just odd. I liked it. It was charming. They made him "fix" it. Now, if there are burglars, they'll have a more sturdy thing to climb over. How nice! And now, how ugly, because there's new wood in between all the nice-looking old wood, aged probably for 30 or more years.
The washer and dryer are conveniently located outside, behind my house. My architect/architecture prof dad neighbor, who, with his family, shares them with me, built an awning structure around them with curtains so they wouldn't get wet or look ugly (their view, not mine). They are convenient for us. Now, the inspector says they can't be outside. Why not? No real reason. They aren't a fire hazard - there are outdoor plugs there. They will have to be in one of our garages, taking up our garage space. This will mean that I have to take a hike to do the wash and that I will conceivably not be able to park my car in my garage, assuming they put them in mine.
On a tiny bright side, I've been paying for my neighbors to do their laundry for years (not knowing how to charge them and not wanting to nickel and dime them), and that situation might reverse if it goes in their space instead of mine! They now have three children, so I may be saving some much-needed money every year.
Amy Alkon at December 22, 2012 5:17 AM
At the same time this stuff happens because a few clamor and the rest cannot or will not understand the consequences, this kills nations, slowly. Rome taxed the artisans more when people left. Result? Fewer artisans.
But the stupidity is widespread. Your installation is neat, but the code MUST be written for everyone. I'd love to see your try at writing a code that permits your setup, but excludes Hoyt's having the fridge, washer and dryer in the front yard, by the primered Camaro. Oh, yeah - you'd FORCE him to put up a fence.
Face the fact: people are eager to tell others what to do. There's even one lady puts cards on SUV windows, 'cuz they're not driving the "right" car.
This will only get worse as population grows.
Radwaste at December 22, 2012 6:12 AM
If the guy doesn't like LA regulations he can always take his business to a city with less ordinances.
Oh, he probably will, unless he's just going to throw in the towel. Wouldn't blame him if he did.
But riddle me this, Batman: what becomes of his employees, likely to be residents of LA, and probably not able to comute to his new location. What of their jobs? Will the city provide for them?
I R A Darth Aggie at December 22, 2012 6:54 AM
Amy Alkon
http://www.advicegoddess.com/archives/2012/12/22/how_la_regulate.html#comment-3527161">comment from RadwasteFace the fact: people are eager to tell others what to do. There's even one lady puts cards on SUV windows, 'cuz they're not driving the "right" car.
That's SUGGESTING what people do, which is free speech.
This inspector who came by was a hardass.
You can find violations in ANY building, just as you can in ANY restaurant. Many of us commit multiple crimes daily, without even knowing it.
This is about creating jobs for dozens and dozens of people on the city's payroll who, I think, were going to lose their jobs. My house will not be safer or a better place to live because of this. It just cost my landlord a bunch of money for non-improving improvements. He noted that other landlords who get too much of this end up selling their buildings, taking them out of rental status, and turning them into owned homes, which kills off affordable housing.
Thanks, Los Angeles!
I really don't understand how people fail to understand the difference between giving your opinion about what people should do -- good, free speech -- and ordering them to do something, and getting the city or state to fine them or jail them if they don't.
Really, there's a big difference. A vast, ginormous difference.
Amy Alkon at December 22, 2012 7:03 AM
There is general safety and health regulation. If they are applied equally to every business in the area then it is a matter of getting enough of the fellow local business owners to fight the over-regulation. But from what I can tell, there is a Popeye's and a pizza place right across the street. Are they subject to:
Then the city's zoning board ordered him to comply with 22 separate conditions, including hiring a full-time security guard, putting up fences, and installing a security camera system.
If not, why not?
That is not equal application of the law.
Jim P. at December 22, 2012 8:40 AM
Amy Alkon
http://www.advicegoddess.com/archives/2012/12/22/how_la_regulate.html#comment-3527235">comment from Jim P.Exactly, Jim P.
We see that in my neighborhood, where a bar owned by wealthy men is allowed to abuse my neighborhood (and has been so for years, despite laws and codes against their various abuses). Meanwhile, a liquor store owned by an old Latino guy who, by all accounts, was just making ends meet, was shut down pronto when he was caught having a beer with his lunch and a neighbor complained that homeless men were hanging out behind the place. Once, I believe. One complaint, from one neighbor versus myriad complaints about law and code violations that may our neighborhood loud, violent and miserable, thanks to this bar.
I love living by businesses, but businesses need to pick up their costs -- like by having bouncers shut up people screaming and yelling on the bar property for 10 minutes -- and not just having the bouncer smile and watch (reportedly, according to a neighbor hiring security, because the bar only cares about carding people who come in, not being a reasonably decent neighbor).
And PS I once lived above a bar in NYC and it was no problem. We'd get awakened once or twice a month (to be expected when you live over a bar), but the owner made sure the bartender 86ed the assholes fast and dispatched them from the bar down the street. All it takes is a little consideration to be a good neighbor as a business - -and we're grateful to all of those in my neighborhood, like the pizza place, that are.
Amy Alkon at December 22, 2012 8:49 AM
"They now have these housing inspectors who come around every three years. If my house were dangerous, I'd move or report a dangerous condition. But, instead, my landlord is being made to fix things that aren't problems..."
Those housing inspectors probably make more money than you do, and they have gold-plated pensions to look forward to besides. They've got to justify their wages & benefits somehow.
Martin at December 22, 2012 9:53 AM
What happens to this guys employees? They also choose to work in LA. If I found myself unemployed because of stifling local regulation, I'd accept that its's one of the unfavorable sides to living in a huge city along with bedbugs, graffiti and traffic.
If I'm a Landlord in Los Angeles, same thing: if I don't allot a certain amount of my budget to bringing properties up to code, if I'm unable to accept that I am doing business in a very "progressive" city, then I shouldn't be a landlord. It takes a certain kind of person to deal with this city's laws without having an aneurism.
I choose to save my unbridled fury for ideas like federally mandated healthcare, national banning of conventional lightbulbs, etc, where no alternatives are offered, and the room for error is much greater.
bs123 at December 22, 2012 3:54 PM
Criminals eat food, therefore having a restaurant in an area with lots of criminals must mean he supports criminal activity!
Dwatney at December 22, 2012 4:44 PM
Amy Alkon
http://www.advicegoddess.com/archives/2012/12/22/how_la_regulate.html#comment-3527589">comment from bs123If I'm a Landlord in Los Angeles, same thing: if I don't allot a certain amount of my budget to bringing properties up to code, if I'm unable to accept that I am doing business in a very "progressive" city, then I shouldn't be a landlord
Well, obviously, but my landlord is a good guy and we're friendly and chat, and he told me that a fellow landlord had to pay $7K just to get the permits to move a washer and dryer. That's before a stitch of work was done. And remember, moving them will cause one of us to lose part of our garage, and make it inconvenient for us to do our wash. We don't want them moved -- the city is mandating it, though in all the years this place has been inspected, only this one hard-ass "found" all these things...none of which improve my life an iota, but will cost my landlord money to "fix."
I admire my landlord a lot. He's from England, came here, worked construction, and started buying up property when this was a bad neighborhood and everything was cheap. Now he goes to Mexico all the time, where he has a condo. He's a nice guy and I'm glad for his success, and deplore this bullshit job-justifying binge on this inspector's part that, again, neither improves my home life nor makes it safer one iota.
I mean really -- open the wall and hide the garbage disposal plug inside it? Because...I might chose to curl up really small and do yoga under my kitchen sink?
Amy Alkon at December 22, 2012 5:09 PM
Unfortunately not everyone can afford a cozy little house in suburbia and the car to drive to work. Do you think employees at a fast food restaurant are making scads of money?
Or do you just want the employees on unemployment and other social services programs. You're paying either way.
Jim P. at December 22, 2012 7:58 PM
I'd say a better question is why are government inspectors authorized to go through private property without a warrant? Its one thing for a commercial business, which caters to the public, but it is a whole other issue for them to inspect existing homes and private residences and impose previously nonexisting regulations that lack any justification based upon the idea of an imminent threat to their neighbors.
I'd throw the inspector off my property before he could even set a second step onto it.
Robert at December 24, 2012 1:09 AM
Amy Alkon
http://www.advicegoddess.com/archives/2012/12/22/how_la_regulate.html#comment-3529288">comment from RobertI'd throw the inspector off my property before he could even set a second step onto it.
They have the capacity to fine you and do all sorts of nasty things. The inspection is mandatory.
Amy Alkon at December 24, 2012 5:12 AM
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