Portland lemonade stand runs into health inspectors

[aravoth]

http://www.oregonlive.com/portland/index.ssf/2010/08/portland_lemonade_stand_runs_i.html


It's hardly unusual to hear small-business owners gripe about licensing requirements or complain that heavy-handed regulations are driving them into the red.

So when Multnomah County shut down an enterprise last week for operating without a license, you might just sigh and say, there they go again.

Except this entrepreneur was a 7-year-old named Julie Murphy. Her business was a lemonade stand at the Last Thursday monthly art fair in Northeast Portland. The government regulation she violated? Failing to get a $120 temporary restaurant license.

Turns out that kids' lemonade stands -- those constants of summertime -- are supposed to get a permit in Oregon, particularly at big events that happen to be patrolled regularly by county health inspectors.

"I understand the reason behind what they're doing and it's a neighborhood event, and they're trying to generate revenue," said Jon Kawaguchi, environmental health supervisor for the Multnomah County Health Department. "But we still need to put the public's health first."

Julie had become enamored of the idea of having a stand after watching an episode of cartoon pig Olivia running one, said her mother, Maria Fife. The two live in Oregon City, but Fife knew her daughter would get few customers if she set up her stand at home.

Plus, Fife had just attended Last Thursday along Portland's Northeast Alberta Street for the first time and loved the friendly feel and the diversity of the grass-roots event. She put the two things together and promised to take her daughter in July.

The girl worked on a sign, coloring in the letters and decorating it with a drawing of a person saying "Yummy." She made a list of supplies.

Then, with gallons of bottled water and packets of Kool-Aid, they drove up last Thursday with a friend and her daughter. They loaded a wheelbarrow that Julie steered to the corner of Northeast 26th and Alberta and settled into a space between a painter and a couple who sold handmade bags and kids' clothing.

Even before her daughter had finished making the first batch of lemonade, a man walked up to buy a 50-cent cup.

"They wanted to support a little 7-year-old to earn a little extra summer loot," she said. "People know what's going on."

Even so, Julie was careful about making the lemonade, cleaning her hands with hand sanitizer, using a scoop for the bagged ice and keeping everything covered when it wasn't in use, Fife said.

After 20 minutes, a "lady with a clipboard" came over and asked for their license. When Fife explained they didn't have one, the woman told them they would need to leave or possibly face a $500 fine.

Surprised, Fife started to pack up. The people staffing the booths next to them encouraged the two to stay, telling them the inspectors had no right to kick them out of the neighborhood gathering. They also suggested that they give away the lemonade and accept donations instead and one of them made an announcement to the crowd to support the lemonade stand.

That's when business really picked up -- and two inspectors came back, Fife said. Julie started crying, while her mother packed up and others confronted the inspectors. "It was a very big scene," Fife said.

Technically, any lemonade stand -- even one on your front lawn -- must be licensed under state law, said Eric Pippert, the food-borne illness prevention program manager for the state's public health division. But county inspectors are unlikely to go after kids selling lemonade on their front lawn unless, he conceded, their front lawn happens to be on Alberta Street during Last Thursday.

"When you go to a public event and set up shop, you're suddenly engaging in commerce," he said. "The fact that you're small-scale I don't think is relevant."

Kawaguchi, who oversees the two county inspectors involved, said they must be fair and consistent in their monitoring, no matter the age of the person. "Our role is to protect the public," he said.

The county's shutdown of the lemonade stand was publicized by Michael Franklin, the man at the booth next to Fife and her daughter. Franklin contributes to the Bottom Up Radio Network, an online anarchist site, and interviewed Fife for his show.

Franklin is also organizing a "Lemonade Revolt" for Last Thursday in August. He's calling on anarchists, neighbors and others to come early for the event and grab space for lemonade stands on Alberta between Northeast 25th and Northeast 26th.

As for Julie, the 7-year-old still tells her mother "it was a bad day." When she complains about the health inspector, Fife reminds her that the woman was just doing her job. She also promised to help her try again -- at an upcoming neighborhood garage sale.

While Fife said she does see the need for some food safety regulation, she thinks the county went too far in trying to control events as unstructured as Last Thursday.

"As far as Last Thursday is concerned, people know when they are coming there that it's more or less a free-for-all," she said. "It's gotten to the point where they need to be in all of our decisions. They don't trust us to make good choices on our own."

-- Helen Jung

Stay... away... from Portland. I don't care how many people tell you it's cool. This place is a rotting shithole.

[polomertz]

I don't know guys, I think they might have been in the right this time. I mean, look at this girl, she's clearly evil and trying to poison us all. The actions of these heroic regulators have saved countless lives & they need medals.

http://media.oregonlive.com/portland_impact/photo/lemonade1jpgjpg-0930a77be036a276_large.jpg

[JenH88]

ridiculous...

i love seeing the entrepreneur spirit in kids... not too surprising they want to squelch it...

[BuddyRey]

Stay... away... from Portland. I don't care how many people tell you it's cool. This place is a rotting shithole.

Such a shame too, because it seems like such a nice place otherwise. Artsy, offbeat, with plenty of rain and fir trees galore. Why are all the culturally enlightened cities so politically clueless?

[The Grinning Maniac]

They want the girl to get a $120 license...when she's selling FIFTY CENT LEMONADE.

Can these people not do math?

[IPSecure]

When I was a kid, the police stopped by, and bought a couple...

[Elwar]

It's illegal to pump your own gas in Oregon...

wouldn't want anyone getting hurt

[MRK]

So you're saying this girl should get special privileges and not have to pay for a $120 licensing fee + all the other appropriate fees because she's young?

How would you feel if you were another drink salesman a couple booths down who had to sell your drinks for $1 to cover your costs, while your competitor can charge half as much and potentially make more profit due to her higher volume of sales?

Saying the youth can avoid laws applied to all in the public commercial arena is class protectionism and is not so different than bailing out some businesses while letting others fail.

The laws the girl is avoiding may be unnecessary, but they are laws the competition is also forced to abide by.

[Danke]

They want the girl to get a $120 license...when she's selling FIFTY CENT LEMONADE.

Can these people not do math?

She just have to get better at it.

[malkusm]

So you're saying this girl should get special privileges and not have to pay for a $120 licensing fee + all the other appropriate fees because she's young?

How would you feel if you were another drink salesman a couple booths down who had to sell your drinks for $1 to cover your costs, while your competitor can charge half as much and potentially make more profit due to her higher volume of sales?

Saying the youth can avoid laws applied to all in the public commercial arena is class protectionism and is not so different than bailing out some businesses while letting others fail.

The laws the girl is avoiding may be unnecessary, but they are laws the competition is also forced to abide by.

Sir, that is some of the most impressive sarcasm I have ever seen on an internet forum. Congratulations!

[Danke]

So you're saying this girl should get special privileges and not have to pay for a $120 licensing fee + all the other appropriate fees because she's young?

How would you feel if you were another drink salesman a couple booths down who had to sell your drinks for $1 to cover your costs, while your competitor can charge half as much and potentially make more profit due to her higher volume of sales?

Saying the youth can avoid laws applied to all in the public commercial arena is class protectionism and is not so different than bailing out some businesses while letting others fail.

The laws the girl is avoiding may be unnecessary, but they are laws the competition is also forced to abide by.

http://www.ronpaulforums.com/showthread.php?t=171025&highlight=

[freshjiva]

[url]Stay... away... from Portland. I don't care how many people tell you it's cool. This place is a rotting shithole.

Unfortunately, that is becoming true for the entire United States of America.

[dannno]

Portland has bacon donuts.

http://voodoodoughnut.com/menu.php

[aravoth]

So you're saying this girl should get special privileges and not have to pay for a $120 licensing fee + all the other appropriate fees because she's young?

How would you feel if you were another drink salesman a couple booths down who had to sell your drinks for $1 to cover your costs, while your competitor can charge half as much and potentially make more profit due to her higher volume of sales?

Saying the youth can avoid laws applied to all in the public commercial arena is class protectionism and is not so different than bailing out some businesses while letting others fail.

The laws the girl is avoiding may be unnecessary, but they are laws the competition is also forced to abide by.

lol, I almost thought you were serious.

[Danke]

Portland has bacon donuts.

http://voodoodoughnut.com/menu.php

[http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2007/10_01/homerL0510_228x299.jpg

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_4v1ESLm8m6E/SZDMuA31EMI/AAAAAAAAATU/_2z3qf934uA/s320/drooling_homer-712749.gif

[Matt Collins]

http://brattononline.com/images/calvin_and_hobbes.jpg
(http://brattononline.com/images/calvin_and_hobbes.jpg)

[nate895]

They shut down a little girl's lemonade stand last year for not having a business license as well, and that was in a little neighborhood not near any big attractions. Portland is a police state, and stuff like this happens all the time.

+1 on the OP's comment about staying away from Portland.

[nate895]

Portland has bacon donuts.

http://voodoodoughnut.com/menu.php

Those are disgusting. Believe me, stay away from voodoo donuts.

[dannno]

Those are disgusting. Believe me, stay away from voodoo donuts.

What's wrong with voodoo donuts? They even have vegan donuts :)

Oh ya.. it's probably a religious thing huh.. "the magic is in the hole" and all the voodoo and they have a 'gay bar' filled with cream with rainbow fruitloops on the top :D

It's almost like a bondage theme in there ;)

[nate895]

What's wrong with voodoo donuts? They even have vegan donuts :)

Oh ya.. it's probably a religious thing huh.. "the magic is in the hole" and all the voodoo and they have a 'gay bar' filled with cream with rainbow fruitloops on the top :D

It's almost like a bondage theme in there ;)

I went there before I was religious, and I hated it then because the taste is awful. Their donuts are like eating pure sugar mixed in with various toppings that only someone tripping on acid could possibly come up with, not even pot will make you think of half of the garbage that's in there. The only way you could possibly like it is if you're totally fried, which half of the city is, so I assume that's how they stay in business.

[oyarde]

So you're saying this girl should get special privileges and not have to pay for a $120 licensing fee + all the other appropriate fees because she's young?

How would you feel if you were another drink salesman a couple booths down who had to sell your drinks for $1 to cover your costs, while your competitor can charge half as much and potentially make more profit due to her higher volume of sales?

Saying the youth can avoid laws applied to all in the public commercial arena is class protectionism and is not so different than bailing out some businesses while letting others fail.

The laws the girl is avoiding may be unnecessary, but they are laws the competition is also forced to abide by.

The real point here is that people voted in a $125 license fee.That is excessive and has unintended negative consequences.

[pcosmar]

The real point here is that people voted in a $125 license fee.That is excessive and has unintended negative consequences.

Voted ??
I doubt it.
I suspect it was arbitrarily imposed by some bureaucracy that was formed years ago, has grown far beyond it's usefulness, and now exists to feed itself.

[nate895]

Voted ??
I doubt it.
I suspect it was arbitrarily imposed by some bureaucracy that was formed years ago, has grown far beyond it's usefulness, and now exists to feed itself.

"The bureaucracy is expanding to meet the needs of the expanding bureaucracy."

-Anonymous, some sources say Oscar Wilde

[Dr.3D]

Voted ??
I doubt it.
I suspect it was arbitrarily imposed by some bureaucracy that was formed years ago, has grown far beyond it's usefulness, and now exists to feed itself.

That's my take on it. I suppose they made the arbitrary $125 fee to cover the cost of inspections. The thing is, with a fee like that, a simple one day lemonade stand would lose most if not all of it's profits on the fee.

[Live_Free_Or_Die]

So you're saying this girl should get special privileges and not have to pay for a $120 licensing fee + all the other appropriate fees because she's young?

How would you feel if you were another drink salesman a couple booths down who had to sell your drinks for $1 to cover your costs, while your competitor can charge half as much and potentially make more profit due to her higher volume of sales?

Saying the youth can avoid laws applied to all in the public commercial arena is class protectionism and is not so different than bailing out some businesses while letting others fail.

The laws the girl is avoiding may be unnecessary, but they are laws the competition is also forced to abide by.

I support this post in a serious context. Until the people suffer from their own stupidity they will not change their voting habits. Even the article states:


While Fife said she does see the need for some food safety regulation, she thinks the county went too far in trying to control events as unstructured as Last Thursday.

You can't have it both ways. You must choose. Freedom or nanny state.

[oyarde]

I support this post in a serious context. Until the people suffer from their own stupidity they will not change their voting habits. Even the article states:



You can't have it both ways. You must choose. Freedom or nanny state.

Who would not choose freedom , and why ?

[pcosmar]

Who would not choose freedom , and why ?

:confused:
Did you not follow the last Presidential Election?

:(

[oyarde]

:confused:
Did you not follow the last Presidential Election?

:(

Yes , I did , point taken.

[james1906]

http://30.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_kzsxrg04cS1qzeqdoo1_500.jpg
This guy needs to be in charge of Portland's parks and rec dept.

[fj45lvr]

portland is a leftist mecca for sure... figures


as if a biz with a "license" is going to be "safer"....hahahahaha

[Golding]

Stay... away... from Portland. I don't care how many people tell you it's cool. This place is a rotting shithole.To be honest, I don't know anyone that's ever told me Portland is cool.

[unconsious767]

They want the girl to get a $120 license...when she's selling FIFTY CENT LEMONADE.

Can these people not do math?

Actually, the sign says the lemonade is free, 50 cents donation suggested :)

http://media.oregonlive.com/portland_impact/photo/lemonade1jpgjpg-0930a77be036a276_large.jpg

[Vessol]

It's always sad when a child learns of the violence and pure obtrusiveness of the State..

[emazur]

Some people seem to think "only in Portland" but this shit happens all over the U.S. Just last week in San Francisco (yes I'm aware it's ultra leftist) a lemonade stand was shut down
http://blogs.sfweekly.com/thesnitch/2010/07/sf_cops_lemonade_stand.php
Portland reaction to the lemonade shutdown has not been positive, and the county commissioner apologized and said there would be no fine

[Kregisen]

The issue isn't a little girl with a lemonade stand got shut down, the issue is there's a $125 fee and government regulation involved.

Like a couple others said, it doesn't matter if it's a 7-year old girl or a 47-year old business man, they should be treated the exact same.

Get rid of the regulation.

[Live_Free_Or_Die]

Some people seem to think "only in Portland" but this shit happens all over the U.S. Just last week in San Francisco (yes I'm aware it's ultra leftist) a lemonade stand was shut down
http://blogs.sfweekly.com/thesnitch/2010/07/sf_cops_lemonade_stand.php
Portland reaction to the lemonade shutdown has not been positive, and the county commissioner apologized and said there would be no fine

No fine? I am outraged. Who do these %$^%#@ hypocritical people think they are to skirt around statues that keep the public safe. Justice must be served!

[nobody's_hero]

This is why arbitrary amounts for fees suck-***. (Fees in general, suck, don't get me wrong). There's no way in hell that little girl is going to make $120 selling lemonade by the cup, but the city needs money from her because apparently it can't pay all its bureaucrats without her.

If they're going to charge folks for permits, it needs to be a uniformly applied percentage of profit, and not just whatever number the city council can pull out of their butts.

[Dr.3D]

The issue isn't a little girl with a lemonade stand got shut down, the issue is there's a $125 fee and government regulation involved.

Like a couple others said, it doesn't matter if it's a 7-year old girl or a 47-year old business man, they should be treated the exact same.

Get rid of the regulation.

That's one thing I noticed when I was in Mexico. While at the beach, and I had just woken up in the morning, I could stop at just about any home and ask if I could pay them for breakfast and suddenly that home would become a restaurant.

[Matt Collins]

Lemonade Stand Bust Shows Entrepreneurship Under Attack


On July 29, 7-year-old entrepreneur Julie Murphy engaged in a tradition as American as apple pie: she set up a lemonade stand at a Portland arts fair.

But this isn't the America of Tom Sawyer and Horatio Alger. Julie quickly learned that her seemingly innocent lemonade stand was, in fact, a criminal enterprise.

County health inspectors pointed out that she didn't have a temporary restaurant license (cost: $120).

She was ordered (http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?et=1103629169305&s=57420&e=0019AJkCbJakUtE-y4soITniyw6og2EotNvMY2LNBwnUwhsU7yZDXn10PX30vqPRsG b_jTQZkScITsheNOV2E1epNuRv7wLlRDFoloVvCXa1Uu8zjS77 ibwwdfFfbromKLbYHqz9RozYlA8inPvSFBjeZH9kDTZFh3lpuF xOhGdsomRXCfZ7hcyGNUvVokPOM-U) to shut down -- or face a $500 fine.

Five hundred dollars -- that's a lot of cups of lemonade.

Julie left the fair in tears.

What happened next was predictable. Word got out. The public was, naturally enough, outraged. The story briefly became a national sensation.

A few days later, the county chairman called Julie to personally apologize.

A local radio station joined with a local business to give Julie a highly publicized second shot at a lemonade stand. The publicity brought her a flood of customers. She raised (http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?et=1103629169305&s=57420&e=0019AJkCbJakUup9La8HPanmOqn-aSqjBzJtS4kYO6gEsmLFX5JnzyRtOtktUSM2gczHw2XE93XdDo 8deERFhEAQK8jZRCGu4XLbL0OOEu_J6HCFF12kfexbjZmZhb6b Vsbwgo7J4F8ySqlM6Gi8bKaV_vXvvEA102IjcdQxmHiZAvLsmz jEAtmj1_xlQ3GkAd0McgPMDXQKe5ADHQQf4fmtw==) over $1,800 - enough to pay for a trip for her and her mom to Disneyland.

A happy ending for all, right?

Well, not really.

Occupational licensing laws, and other needless restrictions that prevent people from starting businesses and practicing trades, routinely strangle the dreams of entrepreneurs across America.

The Institute for Justice, a libertarian law firm that defends economic freedom, says (http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?et=1103629169305&s=57420&e=0019AJkCbJakUs-ZR4aRhJ3NQH1GLqFZYrAXxwpMf7eeSZzW0naxXVxXx56QpWTCb OAjnrRHScdd__7Rys1Pi_pBQ9TeVgx1jPQn6fyBDhuY_C_l_sf qLcdej_ptw-GYhTpnDE7i1XYhtXxPOR42RBI7u3VOGWUvdwobmv-clLg0FPGuGj3oGBUIZZ8QWAvGih1P6u_JvbOp0c=) that today an incredible one in five Americans must secure the government's permission to pursue their occupation of choice. That figure that has risen from only about one in 20 in the 1950s.

Such laws generally serve no identifiable public interest -- they mostly just protect existing businesses by keeping out possible competition. Such requirements are so expensive and so difficult to meet that they prevent talented and hardworking people from enter professions of their choosing.

However, because the victims of such laws generally aren't cute 7-year-olds selling lemonade, we almost never hear about them. Too often, they just fade quietly away. Their dreams never materialize, and we never benefit from their talents and innovation.

In a land founded on the premise of free enterprise and entrepreneurship, that's a tragedy and an outrage. Here's a thought: why don't we start treating all entrepreneurs with the decency and respect we show to school-aged lemonade stand operators?

[tangent4ronpaul]

ANOTHER lemonade stand bust????

I think this is the 4th I've heard about.

and at 50c a glass - what a bargain! - out here it's $2

:(

-t

[libertybrewcity]

http://rlv.zcache.com/stupid_government_postcard-p2391160498474690652v76v_210.jpg

[PreDeadMan]

Fuck the government. They are the reason why poor people will stay poor!!! what good economically would it do for a person to poison and kill their customers!? Certainly a young kid should be able to work selling lemonade if they wish to save for their future without government douche bags getting involved.

[Napoleon's Shadow]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=26hlpBnc20o

[Napoleon's Shadow]

Doing this in DC will lead to arrest:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=04MNf1YdNxI&feature=player_embedded