"The man" is trying to bring me down, man!
The city zoning commission sent a letter giving us a thirty day notice to "cease all operations" in the business because we are not in compliance with our "certificate of occupancy" that states we are zoned as Grocery/Convenience Market. The evidence of our non-compliance is the tables and chairs that we put in last year! Apparently, and I have yet to see this in writing, tables and chairs = restaurant (sit down) and are not permitted in a grocery/convenience market. Therefore, our options are one of the following:
1. Get rid of the tables and chairs and go back to being just a market (no draft beer either, obviously) and no sit-in customers to keep us company!
2. Pay $250 to appeal the decision made by the zoning commission and fight a losing battle to stay as we are.
3. Pay $200 and apply for a restaurant zoning certificate, but open Pandora's box of other regulations and costs that go into that as well
4. Go bankrupt and look for some thing else to do with my life!
I'm optimistic in going with option 3, but our lease is up at the end of this year, and I'm not sure that I want to spend a bunch of money making this a restaurant if I can't buy the building or renew the lease. This space is not particularly well suited for a restaurant. Some of the set backs will include requirements to make the entrance (an 8 inch stone step) and the bathroom (a 4ft x 4ft closet) handicap accessible, which may not even be physically possible in this building. We will also be required to have two to seven reserved parking spaces, also an impossible feat for this city neighborhood or it will cost five hundred dollars a month if we can convince a parking lot owner two blocks away. Thus, option 3 will be a long, arduous, expensive process.
Option 1 is looking ever more appealing, except for the defeatist feeling and letting "the man" win. Putting pride aside, there may be some better opportunities, and at an affordable rate, in focusing on the market side of things. One promising venture is in setting up an agreement with a local farmer for her to keep a case of fresh veggies and fruits on sale here throughout the season (I'll be meeting with her today!). By pushing the local produce and using some of it in our deli, we could capture the local market that is looking for this kind of opportunity as an alternative to the box-grocery store. Another idea that a good friend (Sophia) reminded me of is to make more prepared foods (especially using the local products) like salads and baked goods along with our sandwiches, and sell those in bulk containers. There was a woman, Annie, in our home town that made a decent living off of making salads and baked goods and selling them to local sandwich shops or direct from her house. She grew much of her ingredients in her garden, and made delicious combinations that were better than any store bought brand. That is something that I think AllStar could do as well, and maybe have some agreements with other local shops to sell or trade for their products (coffee for cookies!).
I like the thought of making more delicious foods, but I am not totally set on letting the seating go, yet. This fight is not over. I'll have to do some more research and get some more information on how to make the system work for us, again. But at the least this little incident has prompted me to be a bit more proactive with ideas for getting All Star to a better place. Any ideas or words of encouragement are always appreciated!
Thursday, January 29, 2009
Sunday, January 4, 2009
Late Bloomer
I just realized, today, this instant, that I have been living under a rock for quite some time, and that this age information in which we live is truly amazing. For example, this blog is awesome http://stuffwhitepeoplelike.com/. And this guy published a book from it last year. He simply started writing a blog and enough people in the world read it, and liked it, and he is now famous because of it.
Thinking back on the last ten years of my life, I can see how I've avoided all the media outlets and portals to information that so many people were accepting as a daily routine. I have not owned a TV, let alone watched one for more than an hour in the last nine years, and I only recently began to spend any time "surfing the web" for things other than school related topics. Granted, I did and do listen to the radio, but limit myself to NPR or the local public stations, so I'm not completely devoid of knowledge about the day-to-day news content. I realize now that I have viewed the media, to borrow a Marxist term, as "an opiate of the masses" and therefore have avoided allowing it to subdue me. I have always advocated for interpersonal communications, or reading a book, or direct experience to gain knowledge about the world rather than accepting what someone (especially" The Man made" media) tells you. But I am now coming to view media outlets as the tool, that I truly believe them to be, that can expand those original ideas. I guess, as with anything in life, balance and moderation are the best method, and skepticism and further research are never a bad way to go either. I am, obviously, still going to be selective of my choice of entertainment and knowledge bases, but I am, at this point, open to the idea that the human race is not going to immediately erase thousands of years of evolutionary progress in the development of the brain by clicking around on the internet and watching "Fail" videos on YouTube. Instead I can see how the internet is more of a portal to a world-wide media form (duh...www) that can show us the world and the ways that people think and live differently, which may ultimately lead to a greater acceptance of such differences. I guess this revelation sounds unremarkable to most people who have been up-to-date with the last few decades of technological advancement, but for me it's exciting to experience this new found world of communication and information.
Thinking back on the last ten years of my life, I can see how I've avoided all the media outlets and portals to information that so many people were accepting as a daily routine. I have not owned a TV, let alone watched one for more than an hour in the last nine years, and I only recently began to spend any time "surfing the web" for things other than school related topics. Granted, I did and do listen to the radio, but limit myself to NPR or the local public stations, so I'm not completely devoid of knowledge about the day-to-day news content. I realize now that I have viewed the media, to borrow a Marxist term, as "an opiate of the masses" and therefore have avoided allowing it to subdue me. I have always advocated for interpersonal communications, or reading a book, or direct experience to gain knowledge about the world rather than accepting what someone (especially" The Man made" media) tells you. But I am now coming to view media outlets as the tool, that I truly believe them to be, that can expand those original ideas. I guess, as with anything in life, balance and moderation are the best method, and skepticism and further research are never a bad way to go either. I am, obviously, still going to be selective of my choice of entertainment and knowledge bases, but I am, at this point, open to the idea that the human race is not going to immediately erase thousands of years of evolutionary progress in the development of the brain by clicking around on the internet and watching "Fail" videos on YouTube. Instead I can see how the internet is more of a portal to a world-wide media form (duh...www) that can show us the world and the ways that people think and live differently, which may ultimately lead to a greater acceptance of such differences. I guess this revelation sounds unremarkable to most people who have been up-to-date with the last few decades of technological advancement, but for me it's exciting to experience this new found world of communication and information.
Friday, January 2, 2009
new name
I changed the name on this blog because I am going to use the Re:New name for the non profit that is now official! www.renewrichmond.org Re:New Richmond will also have a blog so you can read all about it!
I'll keep up with personal thoughts here, of course, and I changed settings so now anyone can comment!!!
I'll keep up with personal thoughts here, of course, and I changed settings so now anyone can comment!!!
Thursday, January 1, 2009
A New Year
Realism can be all too overpowering at times, and for me, I am most susceptible to it around the holidays. Instead of becoming immersed in the "spirit of the season" I tend to be a critical observer explaining away the magic and pointing out the hidden strings. I suppose I am a "Scrooge", but I can't help it.
In some ways I admire the "ignorance is bliss" attitude that the holidays tend to evoke. It fascinates me that an arbitrary day is chosen as a reason to celebrate and almost the entire human race participates. I'd like to blissfully buy gifts and string lights, drink more, eat more, and take time off of work as a means to celebrate a day in time that we collectively designated as having a purpose different from all other days, but I can't. I'm too overwhelmed by the reality of it. For example, a "new year" begins with the tick of a clock hand and we have a chance to start over again. At that moment we can make resolutions to change our selves and we can focus on the future full of possibilities because it is NOW a new start. But we simply choose to see this moment as the chance to start a new; there is no clock that has wound down and is now restarted to tick for another 365 days, the clock is always ticking. We adhere to this conception of time starting over and allow IT to guide our behaviors, even though we decided when it would start and end. And what's more is that everyone agrees that time starts over in this way, so it makes it all the more acceptable to believe it.
I'm not "bah-humbug" about designating a day in time in which to celebrate, in fact I think it is perfectly human and necessary to our survival as a species. The human perception of the world is organized by giving meaning to events and objects. I find it both fascinating and terrifying how powerful perceptions and belief can be, and alas, that is the rub. It is this strength in the collective belief of that arbitrary day having a certain meaning that creates the "spirit of the season", and I can't see past that reality. Thus, my inability to have a dispensable belief in reality leaves me without much holiday cheer, and ready for the end of this "new year's day".
In some ways I admire the "ignorance is bliss" attitude that the holidays tend to evoke. It fascinates me that an arbitrary day is chosen as a reason to celebrate and almost the entire human race participates. I'd like to blissfully buy gifts and string lights, drink more, eat more, and take time off of work as a means to celebrate a day in time that we collectively designated as having a purpose different from all other days, but I can't. I'm too overwhelmed by the reality of it. For example, a "new year" begins with the tick of a clock hand and we have a chance to start over again. At that moment we can make resolutions to change our selves and we can focus on the future full of possibilities because it is NOW a new start. But we simply choose to see this moment as the chance to start a new; there is no clock that has wound down and is now restarted to tick for another 365 days, the clock is always ticking. We adhere to this conception of time starting over and allow IT to guide our behaviors, even though we decided when it would start and end. And what's more is that everyone agrees that time starts over in this way, so it makes it all the more acceptable to believe it.
I'm not "bah-humbug" about designating a day in time in which to celebrate, in fact I think it is perfectly human and necessary to our survival as a species. The human perception of the world is organized by giving meaning to events and objects. I find it both fascinating and terrifying how powerful perceptions and belief can be, and alas, that is the rub. It is this strength in the collective belief of that arbitrary day having a certain meaning that creates the "spirit of the season", and I can't see past that reality. Thus, my inability to have a dispensable belief in reality leaves me without much holiday cheer, and ready for the end of this "new year's day".
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