business climates – Overlawyered

“New York Is A City Of No”

Walter Olson — Mon, 23 Nov 2015 05:28:41 +0000

Gothamist on why the Robicelli bakery of Bay Ridge, Brooklyn, has decided to move to Baltimore, worn down by hassles with New York labor laws, utilities, rents, alternate side of the street parking enforcement, and more:

The culture of fining small businesses and attaching expensive requirements for permitting and other work can make owners feel as though they’re ATMs for the city, from what some call excessive policing of restaurants by the DOH to the installation of a hand sink that cost the couple $10,000 after acquiring and hiring the necessary permits and persons to get the work done up to city code. “If you see some guy having an ice cream cart in front of his shop? Huge permit! Outdoor seating? Huge permit! If you decide you just want to have a bench in front of your store but somebody decides to pull it out a little bit so it’s a little bit over 18-inches off the front? Fine! Massive fine!” …

“New York now is a city of no. You have this great idea? No, you can’t do it. You want to try this out? No. You go to Baltimore and it’s a city of, ‘Well why the f— not? Let’s try this!’ They really, really love their city and it’s exciting. It’s that energy I felt when I was growing up in New York.

Tags: Baltimore, business climates, NYC, petty fines and fees, small business

“New York Is A City Of No” is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

Which states are most friendly/hostile toward small business?

Walter Olson — Fri, 11 May 2012 19:53:27 +0000

I’ve got some comments on an interesting new survey from the Kauffman Foundation/Thumbtack.com. [Cato at Liberty; & welcome Neal Boortz readers]

Related: “When Julia tried to start a small business” [Coyote]

Tags: business climates, California, Maryland, small business

Which states are most friendly/hostile toward small business? is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

June 1 roundup

Walter Olson — Wed, 01 Jun 2011 12:58:57 +0000

More views on California prisoner release: Steve Chapman (California can incarcerate less and be safer), John Eastman/City Journal (state’s pols share blame for conditions), Sarah Hart, FedSoc SCOTUScast (sharing dissenters’ foreboding). Earlier here and here;
Stephen Carter, “Economic Stagnation Explained, at 30,000 Feet” [Bloomberg/RCP]
Long-running legal campaign aimed at blocking new coal-fired power plants [Conn Carroll, Examiner]
Unconsciously? “We hope it sends a message that if you … unconsciously ignore the law, you could go to jail.” [WSJ Law Blog on prosecution of executive following pool drain entrapment death]
Following outcry: “Disney withdraws application to trademark ‘SEAL Team 6′” [AP, earlier]
More fact-checking of Scott Horton Guantanamo Harper’s article mysteriously awarded prize by ASME [Alex Koppelman/AdWeek, Joe Carter/First Things, Jack Shafer/Slate (citing “slipperiness and many flights of illogic”), FishBowlNY, Politico, Noah Davis/Business Insider, Cutline, earlier] Horton is a lecturer at Columbia Law and his piece drew on work done at Seton Hall Law. More: defense of Horton at leftist TruthOut site;
Germans hesitate to join nanny-state parade [four years ago on Overlawyered]