Smiling Faces ... Beautiful Places
We managed to fix the broken wheel on the cart, and the new 'Magic Shows' sign is really attracting the attention. We're doing some of my best work ever out there! But hanging from my hat like a dark cloud is this whole business license crap.
We received a call from Bruce Young, the supervisor for the City's Department of Revenue. It appears that my efforts are now attracting the top brass, so I must be getting something accomplished. Mr. Young called to convince my that I need a business license. That of course is like trying to convince me I need a hole in my head, and really shows that he has missed the point entirely. He seems more focused on the legality of his actions than with the acceptability of the policy - which I take as a good sign as he should be concerned as to weather his actions are legal or not.
But the City Council is not a court room and the legality of his actions are irrelevant within this forum, and I stand by my appeal as a business license is unnecessary, unwarranted, a barrier of entry to future street performers, and yes ... even illegal. I am not doing business and should not be required to have a business license, as per the Supreme Court.
See ... the Grand Strand is a corporate stage, where art is sacrificed for profit on a nightly basis, where local talent gets to wait on tables and wash dishes while the stages are filled with people bussed in from Vegas and Branson. I have had to carve my own path and I have no intention of letting the City dump on me. I want to live in a City that fosters art and culture and entertainment, and if my City Council cannot understand this then I will work to elect a new Council that will!
When it became apparent that he was not actually listening to me, I politely informed him that I am not going to argue with him and hung up. He is not an elected official and it is not his job to dictate public policy. And while I would love to rant and rave more about my conversation with Mr. Young, I really want to flush my ears with some loud obnoxious music so that I can (hopefully) remove his condescending tone from my ears - I don't like the way he talked to me one little bit. This is South Carolina and when I talk to my government officials I expect to hear "smiling faces". Perhaps I will find time to bring this issue up with the Council also. Until then....
-JoeJoe
We received a call from Bruce Young, the supervisor for the City's Department of Revenue. It appears that my efforts are now attracting the top brass, so I must be getting something accomplished. Mr. Young called to convince my that I need a business license. That of course is like trying to convince me I need a hole in my head, and really shows that he has missed the point entirely. He seems more focused on the legality of his actions than with the acceptability of the policy - which I take as a good sign as he should be concerned as to weather his actions are legal or not.
But the City Council is not a court room and the legality of his actions are irrelevant within this forum, and I stand by my appeal as a business license is unnecessary, unwarranted, a barrier of entry to future street performers, and yes ... even illegal. I am not doing business and should not be required to have a business license, as per the Supreme Court.
See ... the Grand Strand is a corporate stage, where art is sacrificed for profit on a nightly basis, where local talent gets to wait on tables and wash dishes while the stages are filled with people bussed in from Vegas and Branson. I have had to carve my own path and I have no intention of letting the City dump on me. I want to live in a City that fosters art and culture and entertainment, and if my City Council cannot understand this then I will work to elect a new Council that will!
When it became apparent that he was not actually listening to me, I politely informed him that I am not going to argue with him and hung up. He is not an elected official and it is not his job to dictate public policy. And while I would love to rant and rave more about my conversation with Mr. Young, I really want to flush my ears with some loud obnoxious music so that I can (hopefully) remove his condescending tone from my ears - I don't like the way he talked to me one little bit. This is South Carolina and when I talk to my government officials I expect to hear "smiling faces". Perhaps I will find time to bring this issue up with the Council also. Until then....
-JoeJoe
posted by JoeJoe at 11:22 AM
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