Written on Sunday, June 7th, 2009 at 10:00am by Alan Bedenko | 13 Comments

But if the Ice Cream Guy Joined Grassroots…

Perhaps James the Ice Cream Bicycle Guy could apply for six figures’ worth of loans from BERC, but in smaller, less scrutinized incremental amounts, and then retain the assistance of a BERC official who’s friendly with the mayor and have her pay his bills, negotiate with vendors, and otherwise run his business while James himself flits off doing nothing. You can catch up on One Sunset with Jim Heaney.

Or maybe we don’t need that sort of excuse for “business development” and stop giving handouts to the misguided and well-connected, and start easing the path to success and growth to existing entrepreneurs.

When failures are self-inflicted, and happen with such regularity, you have to stop being apologetic or sad about it. You have to get angry.

An online petition has been set up, but frankly the travails of the ice cream bicycle guy, when juxtaposed with the too-generous handouts to One Sunset and the Mayor’s buddies, should be blown up into a massive campaign issue.

Tagged with: , , , ,

13 Comments

  1. Jon Splett says:
    June 7, 2009 at 10:50 am

    You know, maybe instead of tea parties, someone should throw an Ice Cream Social on the steps of city hall to protest how backwards the place is run.

  2. jen says:
    June 7, 2009 at 11:41 am

    Ice Cream Social!!! I LOVE IT! We can we do it?

    Mr. Karagiannis should write to the ice cream makers and explain his situation. I am sure Ben and Jerry’s would be all over it. Nothing like national media attention to drive this point home and to shame those in power.

  3. jen says:
    June 7, 2009 at 11:56 am

    Oh, bring ice cream (bike) bells to ring at the social!

  4. Brian says:
    June 7, 2009 at 1:49 pm

    James the Ice Cream Bicycle Guy is obviously a Kearn’s plant. You guys find any reason you can to pick on the Mayor. Pathetic.

  5. kris says:
    June 7, 2009 at 2:07 pm

    I’ll support James if he stops wearing flip flops. Boys that wear them = FAIL.

    Actually I do think this is outrageous & agree it is a huge campaign issue for Brown and should be.

    And seriously stop wearing flip flops unless you are at the beach.

    Word.

  6. Jon Splett says:
    June 7, 2009 at 4:12 pm

    Um, if he’s a Kerns plant, he got planted last summer when I met and talked to him about this very issue and saw Buffalo PD chase him out of Thursday in the Square in a very douchey manner.

  7. Heidi says:
    June 7, 2009 at 4:13 pm

    Actually Kris, a few guys can get away with wearing flip flops. James is one.Get over it.

  8. shim says:
    June 7, 2009 at 4:47 pm

    I’m all for a protest ice cream social! Yes…this is (and should be) a huge campaign issue for the mayor! And kris I consider myself a pretty successful guy and I LOVE my flip flops…..but my wife hates when I wear them..

  9. RaChaCha says:
    June 7, 2009 at 5:27 pm

    Geez, I thought brain freeze came from eating too much ice cream too fast, but now I think it comes from working at City Hall. Let’s hope the City does a “flip flop” on their policy of harassing James.

  10. Admin says:
    June 7, 2009 at 5:43 pm

    I think if we do anything in the lines of a protest ( ice cream social is a great idea BTW) it needs to be more about breaking down the barriers of doing business in the city rather than about one guy and his bicycle….

    But Im down….

  11. Jon Splett says:
    June 7, 2009 at 6:02 pm

    If I was doing it, I’d get a hold of the guy and plan it for somewhere he’s ban from selling. Then have a TON of people show up and buy ice cream from him there illegally. It makes it more of a legit protest and not just people waiving signs. I doubt Johnny Law would show up and ticket him but if they did, chances are he’d make enough to cover the ticket or even pay it straight from donations of people there and it would demonstrate the ridiculousness of government protected corporate monopolies on certain public spaces in a really awesome way.

    Plus the whole thing makes him a few bucks and keeps him in business which is a nice way of demonstrating support for local business.

    I am reserving the rights to the term ‘Ice Cream Socialism’ right now though because if I ever run for office, that’s what I’m calling my first fund raiser. So, just a warning to all you conservative bloggers thinking your being clever and taking a shot at Brown with that headline, I will troll your comment section with Dennis Kucinich campaign materials until the 2012 election if you steal it.

  12. Buffalopundit says:
    June 7, 2009 at 5:45 pm

    I agree that the larger point needs to be made about permitting and the ease of doing business, but the ice cream bicycle personalizes the issue and makes it super-easy to wrap one’s head around.

  13. Buffalopundit says:
    June 7, 2009 at 6:08 pm

    Splett FTW

 

You need to log in to vote

The blog owner requires users to be logged in to be able to vote for this post.

Alternatively, if you do not have an account yet you can create one here.

Powered by Vote It Up