Boy homeless after city shuts down hot dog stand

[presence]

A soundtrack:
START HERE (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GHEUsGhUtgg)




An
entrepreneurial-minded
Michigan boy and his parents
are homeless




Long and short:

Dad has multiple sclerosis. Mom has epilepsy.
Both marginally employable.
14 year old is bucking up to keep the family afloat.
Selling hotdogs...
asked about permits...


they were told they did not need a permit.

got permission from a landowner to set up shop...
ON PRIVATE FUCKING PROPERTY
made the investment...


Nathan said he went out to help his family by purchasing a hot dog cart with money he saved.

SHUT DOWN, belly up, homeless.


after the city shut down the boy's hot dog stand for not having a proper permit.

http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-201_162-57491254/mich-boy-homeless-after-city-shuts-down-hot-dog-stand/


Rags to riches or so they say
You got to - keep pushing for the fortune and fame you know
It's all a gamble when it's just a game
You treat it like a capital crime
Everybody's doing their time



A little rpf history:



WI - City and cops shut down another kid's lemonade stand. (http://www.ronpaulforums.com/showthread.php?304205-WI-City-and-cops-shut-down-another-kid-s-lemonade-stand.&highlight=lemonade)



Police Chief Shuts Down Children's Lemonade Stand (http://www.ronpaulforums.com/showthread.php?303675-Police-Chief-Shuts-Down-Children-s-Lemonade-Stand&highlight=lemonade)



Police Bust Children's Lemonade Stand! (http://www.ronpaulforums.com/showthread.php?303403-Police-Bust-Children-s-Lemonade-Stand!&highlight=lemonade)



Lemonade Freedom Day - VIVA LA LEMONISTA'S (http://www.ronpaulforums.com/showthread.php?310892-Lemonade-Freedom-Day-VIVA-LA-LEMONISTA-S&highlight=lemonade)



Police bust lemonade stand in Pennsylvania (http://www.ronpaulforums.com/showthread.php?200713-Police-bust-lemonade-stand-in-Pennsylvania&highlight=lemonade)



County-Shuts-Down-Kids-Lemonade-Stand-500-Fine (http://www.ronpaulforums.com/showthread.php?299035-County-Shuts-Down-Kids-Lemonade-Stand-500-Fine&highlight=lemonade)

And don't forget to check out my thread from last month:

Chicago's Mobile Food Vendors Tracked on GPS (http://www.ronpaulforums.com/showthread.php?384647-Chicago-Mobile-Food-Vendors-tracked-on-GPS&p=4557135#post4557135)


Captain America's been torn apart
Now he's a court jester with a broken heart


"Nate and I are now in a shelter," Duszynki's mother, Lynnette, told the Michigan nonprofit. "Doug can't stay with us because he takes prescription narcotics to deal with his pain and the shelter does not allow him with those kinds of drugs."

But Nate hasn't given up:


The boy has been booking private events in West Michigan, but each event requires a new health department [F'ING] permit. It's difficult for Nathan to make a profit with all the costs.

enjoy,

presence

http://www.ronpaulforums.com/customprofilepics/profilepic36577_1.gif

[AuH20]

http://www.infowars.com/boy-whose-hot-dog-cart-was-shut-down-by-the-city-of-holland-now-homeless/

Great comment:


He needs to learn how to speak spanish, go to a place like 3rd and Alvarado street in Los Angeles, buy a counterfeit Green Card and ID, then he can open a business with no problems, go to college for free, collect foodstamps and WIC for kids he doesn’t have and file bogus tax returns claiming 20 dependents, and if he can fool employers into thinking he’s from Mexico, he’ll never be turned down for a job ever again.

[cubical]

Learned a valuable lesson in business. First payoff the thugs, then start to serve your customers.

[VoluntaryAmerican]

Dun worry. Government is on the case, fixing the economy. One case at a time.

[Dr.3D]

Learned a valuable lesson in business. First payoff the thugs, then start to serve your customers.
Exactly... one must pay protection money to stay in business. A tribute to the king is always in order.

[aGameOfThrones]

Child labor is wrong!!!

His parents are very irresponsible.


Nathan’s mother, Lynette Johnson, suffers from epilepsy and his stepfather, Doug Johnson, has multiple sclerosis. Their illnesses have restricted them from finding permanent, full-time work.

Talk about excuses... sheesh.













/s

[AGRP]

Now do we see one of the reasons why they want children in school or playing 24/7? If they start opening up business then they're liable to put the well connected out of business. They don't have a mortgage or pay property taxes on their homes or other expenses such as a car because of their age, so that gives them an immediate competitive advantage.

[angelatc]

It wasn't that he needed a permit. He was shut down because the city had granted restaurants protection from other food sellers in that area. Gotta make life fair, you know!


The hot dog stand was within the city's downtown commercial zone, where food carts not connected to restaurants are banned. City of Holland Assistant Manager Greg Robinson said the rule was set up to protect restaurants in the area -- it would be unfair for carts, who don't have to pay for property, to compete with restaurants who do.

"Child labor is wrong!" - gag me.

[KCIndy]

It wasn't that he needed a permit. He was shut down because the city had granted restaurants protection from other food sellers in that area. Gotta make life fair, you know!



Jeez... that's *exactly* what it looks like. Established restaurants running scared from one poor kid's lil' ol' hot dog stand. :(

[aGameOfThrones]

"It's not about food, it's about keeping those ants in line."~Hopper

[seraphson]

But...but...Jobs!Jobs!Jobs!Jobs!Jobs!Jobs!Jobs!Job s!Jobs!Jobs!Jobs!Jobs!
*gasps for fresh air and takes another deep breath*
Jobs!Jobs!Jobs!Jobs!Jobs!Jobs!Jobs!Jobs!Jobs!Jobs! Jobs!Jobs!Jobs!Jobs!

Remember all, thou dictataor declarith jobiths and thy unemploymenteth shall magically declinth.

[Lucille]

Michigan Mayor Who Shut Kid's Hot Dog Stand Is Sad Because the Media Are Mean to Him (http://reason.com/blog/2012/08/16/michigan-mayor-who-shut-kids-hot-dog-sta)


Kurt Dykstra, the mayor of Holland, Michigan, is sad. The media, including "opinion-based sites like The Blaze, owned by Glenn Beck, and Reason.com, owned by the libertarian Reason Foundation," have depicted him as a bad guy, just because he shut down the hot dog stand of a 13-year-old kid who was trying to make money to keep his family from becoming homeless. “People have said some colorful things about my character, or lack thereof.”
[...]

The problem is, that’s only one side of the story. From the city's perspective, the zoning ordinance dates back decades and was drafted at the behest of downtown businesses that pay additional assessments to cover the cost of free parking downtown, and other improvements, like heated sidewalks courtesy of Holland's winter "snowmelt" system.
[...]

The downtown business owners annually pay substantial assessments (often reaching into the thousands of dollars) for improvement and maintenance of the free parking lots, amenities and events, and “snowmelt” to keep the downtown alive and well – and these assessments are on top of their regular property taxes.

With that in mind, it is understandable that these businesses, historically at least, have been reluctant to allow mobile vendors into the downtown area to benefit from the environment the brick and mortar businesses have created, compete with them for customers, but not contribute to the substantial capital and operational costs of the downtown.
[...]
Again, hearing this side of the story doesn't make the behavior of Holland's mayor excusable. If anything, it makes the whole thing more shocking: The city has repeatedly insisted that its behavior is justifiable because they are providing protection to the people and businesses who pay more in taxes. Meanwhile, Nathan Duszynski is out of work and out of his house.

Meanwhile, there's a new video from the Mackinac Center, which has been following the case closely:


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g5CApp86N-U

Related: Stealing Dreams, Creating Nightmares (http://www.weeklyblitz.net/515/stealing-dreams-creating-nightmares)


Many a story I have heard about the authoritarians destroying the dreams of the less fortunate as they try to make a better life for themselves. There's the story of homeless man in California who dreamed of getting an apartment by shining shoes. After he obtained a shoe shining kit he decided to provide a service to others rather than beg in order to make a living. He was just about to make his dream come true, he had nearly saved enough to remove himself from the homeless lists, when the government stepped in and turned his dream into a nightmare. They had found out about his industriousness and they wanted their share in the form of a $400 small business registration fee, or license, or some such thing.

Then there's a story out of South Carolina about a business which provided a service where girls who were particularly proficient at a practice known as "African hair styling" were paid to braid customers´ hair at the request of the customer. These girls were harming no one, had no complaints from clients, and were providing a valuable service, yet the government deigned it necessary to crush their dreams when it decided they had to be licensed to braid hair. They even went as far as creating a nightmare by fighting the business in their (stacked against the public) court where it was decided these girls either had to pay up and become licensed or quit braiding hair and earning money.

From shutting down bars for allowing smoking to harassing delivery men for bringing biscuits to your home, there is no shortage of stories of over reaching government changing the dreams of hard working folk into nightmarish scenarios. Most of these licensing and regulation stories have nothing to do with keeping the public safe and everything to do with legalized extortion. Mostly they prove that the laws and regulations put in place are not there so much to protect the people as they are to keep the poor from improving their lot in life and prevent competition from challenging the already wealthy and established businesses in the community. It's a protection scheme designed to keep the rich and powerful safe and the poor dependent on them for work.

[shane77m]

Maybe if we do have an economic collapse we can have a great reset, either by legislation or by people simply refusing to comply with paying the government its "share".

If things get as bad as what people are saying then I imagine there will be many people trying make a living by supplying various useful services if jobs become even more scarce. A collapse would be good time to rebuild something that was once great before the government stepped in and said pay up.

[liveandletlive]

blame the kid for not paying his fair share towards society. :rolleyes:

[Lucille]

I should have posted this (http://reason.com/blog/2012/08/16/michigan-mayor-who-shut-kids-hot-dog-sta) before:


You can help Nathan out by going here (https://nathanshotdoghut.com/).

[fisharmor]

In another corner of the world, the kid would have publicly lit himself on fire, and six months later the national government would be abolished.
Yet another reason to rethink the whole "USA IS NUMBER 1" attitude.

[Lucille]

More licensure trouble for this family:

Stepfather of Holland teen hot dog vendor facing life in prison for alleged habitual fraud (http://www.mlive.com/news/grand-rapids/index.ssf/2012/08/stepfather_of_holland_teen_hot.html)

Life in prison. Wow. And the bankstas get a slap on the wrist (rather, a pat on the back).

[Lucille]

Holland teen’s hot dog stand grand reopening will get support from Ottawa County Patriots tea party
http://www.mlive.com/news/grand-rapids/index.ssf/2012/08/tea_party_plans_support_of_hol.html


RAND RAPIDS, MI – A Holland teenager whose hot dog sales cart trials and tribulations have brought national attention to Ottawa County will reopen his mobile stand Thursday.

The Ottawa County Patriots tea party plans to help make the day a success for 13-year-old Nathan Duszynski, whose cart will be back on the public sidewalk along River Street at 11 a.m.

“This rally will show our support for free markets, less regulation, personal liberty and support for Nathan,” an email blast states. “Buy a hot dog!”

The plight of Duszynski and his family has attracted widespread media interest after the city shut down his enterprise for violating zoning codes.

The story took other twists and turns as his family was forced to move into a homeless shelter and then his stepfather, Douglas Johnson, was jailed on fraud allegations that he was working as a lawyer despite not having a legal license. [ http://www.fff.org/freedom/1096d.asp ]
[...]
The Holland City Council last week overturned an earlier decision that stopped the operation, granting the teen a temporary license to operate through October.

The city will also set up a task force to look into the possibility of allowing mobile food vendors in the Eighth Street Marketplace.

A little late, since the kid has to go back to the compulsory ed institution for indoctrination in a few weeks.