On Sun, 21 Nov 2010 07:26:20 -0500, Jay Hanig wrote Re Re: Town forces boys to stop selling cupcakes:
Interesting story and very common in the North East and just about any large US city. It sounds very much like stories you read/hear about of the banana republics in South America 20 years ago.
My old friend went to NYC after college. He and another guy he worked with started a new business. This was in the 1980s at the peak of liberal control of NYC in that century before people had enough and hired Giuliani. As part of their process they had one each oxygen and acetylene tanks. In order to have them someone had to get a license from the fire department. Since my buddy was the junior partner he got the job which consisted of reading a small list of requirements and taking a test at the fire house. My buddy takes the test and he is told he passed but he needed to pay (in green) to get the license.
Another friend is VP of marketing for a large electronics company. He said it would cost them $10,000 in bribe money when they exhibited at shows in the Javitts center. After Giuliani was elected there were signs taped up all over the place at the Javitts center that said "if someone demands payment or a bribe call this number..."
Darn those pesky Republicans, they get into power and screw up all the traditional ways of doing business costing little dictators millions of dollars in graft and corruption. It's a real shame when lower level bureaucrats can't buy that new Jaguar or add a swimming pool to their summer home. 8-)
TDD
Chuckle. On a business trip to San Diego a few years back, a bunch of us took the streetcar down to the terminus at the border, and walked over to TJ for dinner, and to scope out the tourist traps. (For those that don't know, Mexico keeps the tourist part of Tijuana in a no-man's land between their customs station and US border point. You aren't in US, but you haven't really entered Mexico officially.) Anyway, all over town, there were planted street signs, looking just like traffic signs, in English, telling the tourists to NOT give any cash to cops, and giving a number to call if any ask.
On 11/21/2010 6:26 AM, Jay Hanig wrote:
The last build I worked on here was a small takeout/delivery restaurant and halfway through the job, a building inspector showed up and told the general contractor that he would have to install an internal ladder and roof hatch in order for the rooftop equipment to be serviced. This would cost more than the entire remodeling budget. It's in a small business strip that had been there for 25 years and none of the other occupants had ever been told that they had to have an internal ladder. It wasn't an attempt at extortion but rather an example of the incompetence and complete lack of common sense of the Affirmative Action morons in charge of the city's bureaucracy. You don't necessarily have to bribe anyone but you have to get lawyers involved and spend a lot of time and money negotiating with city officials through whoever can get them to listen to reason. I've never paid a bribe to anyone but have dealt with inspectors face to face and honestly. The trick is to be respectful, not lie to them, go behind their back or pull a fast one. If you do, they'll remember you and nitpick you to death on every job from then on. Whenever I've come up against an inspector who tells me I have to do something ridiculous or unnecessary, I ask them to help me understand the code so I don't make the same mistake in the future. I'll pull out the code books and go over it with them and can often resolve it right there on the spot and if that doesn't work, ask them if it's OK to talk to the head of their department for a second opinion. I get along with our local inspectors here and if they ask me to do some little thing that doesn't take a lot of time and money, I say yes sir, no problem. It's the best way to prevent a REAL PROBLEM. 8-)
TDD
s/"summer home"/"dacha"
Now you have me wondering... The only time I've been to Tijuana was in the late '90s (no such signs, but it was clearly a DMZ) but the "tourist area" was several miles from the border crossing. It was a reasonably long cab ride and I was told not to hoof it. Thinking back, though, I don't remember any Mexican customs. Is that whole section of the city the "no-man's land"? It certainly looked like we were driving through real Mexico. ;-)
Oh yea, under Communism everyone is equal except the elite, they're more equal than me and thee. Kinda reminds me of the Royal Federal Government. 8-)
TDD
Come on, there's no shortage of republican politicians, appointees, and civil seservants who have been investigated and convicted of bribery, either.
seservants who have been investigated and convicted of bribery, either.
We expect Democrats to lie, cheat and steal. That's why so much fuss is made when a Republican is caught up in some scandal. If there is no crime going on by Republicans, the Liberal Left will fabricate some. No I'm not a Republican, Republicans disgust me but Democrats are special, they horrify me. Here in Alabamastan, Republicans have taken control of the state government for the first time in 136 years. People woke up and decided enough is enough. The feds are actually prosecuting a whole gaggle of Democrat politicians here for various and sundry crimes, most of them have to do with bribery. Voter fraud is SOP for Democrats in my state, we have lots of dead people voting just like in Chicago. It's amazing to me how Democrats can vote from beyond the grave, that's real dedication to one's political party. Every time Republicans broach the subject of simple voter ID to combat vote fraud at the polls, Democrats squeal like hungry piglets. Democrats have actually proposed giving the right to vote to the inmates of the state prisons. I wonder why, are Democrats that desperate to gain votes for their crime,.. I mean cause?
TDD
Jim,
you win the prize, funniest post of the week... :-)
Mark
Right. Giuliani had our emergency operations center put INTO the World Trade Center because a big contributor needed a few floors rented. So when the WTC is attacked, Giuliani gets a nice photo of himself walking the streets because we had no EOC left. Every single recommendation was to put the EOC anywhere else but, see, this guy needed some rent money from the city.
He was the most corrupt and awful mayor our city ever had.
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