26 ms·

My business might have 32 days before it's shut down by NYC [video]

521 points by xbmcuser 5y ago

timtas 5y ago
This guy will be in Texas within a year.
MisterTea 5y ago
It would be nice to post a text summary so those of us who don't want to waste time sifting through a 17 minute video can get a summary and decide to keep reading/watching or move on.
- ihatethissite 5y ago
  There is a summary in the description of the video.
  - callamdelaney 5y ago
    There isn't
  - tyleo 5y ago
    I don’t think this is true. At least on iOS I only see links to more videos in the description.
  - darrenf 5y ago
    Currently (2021-07-12, 14:46 BST) the description is nothing but 3 other YouTube links.
  - limeblack 5y ago
    It's in the comments.
  - EricE 5y ago
    It's in the pinned comment at the top.
  - deleted 5y ago
    [deleted]
  - deleted 5y ago
    [deleted]
- tw04 5y ago
  He's complaining about the NYC licensing bureau sending him a letter about renewing his business license when he already did it last June. I didn't watch the whole thing either because I didn't find it particularly interesting. I'm assuming the license is supposed to be good for more than one year given his rant, which means he probably just got the mailer by accident and is making a clickbait video.
  - gregorymichael 5y ago
    No, having worked with others going through the same issue -- the NYC beauracracy for local businesses is truly broken and terrifying for small time operators.
    - treeman79 5y ago
      Actual serious question. Are bribes a part of the picture of getting things done? Met people who talk about greasing the wheel to get things done. But won’t say more.
      - gregorymichael 5y ago
        My guess is most bribes take the form of campaign contributions, and are out of reach for a coffee shop doing $150k/year in revenue.
      - klodolph 5y ago
        I haven't heard any rumors to that effect. I've talked to small business owners who have gotten fined for various infractions in NYC, just casually, and my impression is that it's just bureaucracy in action--lots of rules, randomly enforced by people who individually interpret them one way or another. For example, a store selling used equipment was fined for not individually labeling the equipment as used. All equipment in the store is used, it's all outdated stuff, and it's completely obvious. But one day someone from the city shows up and levies a fine. So now this scuffed, obsolete gear from the 1990s has a "used" sticker on it.
      - deleted 5y ago
        [deleted]
gregorymichael 5y ago
Last year I helped the owner of my local coffee shop renew his NYC license. I've been doing web development over 20 years and barely managed to navigate their website. It took over an hour and dozens of attempts to pay a couple hundred dollars to renew one of the many licenses he needs to stay open. We moved to New York five years ago and I've come to believe the propaganda that it is the Greatest City in the World. This experience more than any other -- the hoops that every smalltime entrepreneur has to hop through -- seriously called that claim into question.
- afavour 5y ago
  I say this as a liberal believer in government: NYC (and NY state) make one of the worst cases for effective governance out of anywhere I’ve lived. (it’s all relative, of course: the places I’ve lived have been cities and towns in relatively prosperous western nations)
  - fallingknife 5y ago
    Guess you haven't lived in California.
    - bushbaba 5y ago
      To be fair the California online systems are better than any other state I worked in.
    - wbl 5y ago
      California goveement workers I've had to interact with are smart and helpful and go the extra mile to let you know what you need to do. The problem is the rules they don't make.
  - pclmulqdq 5y ago
    New York (the state and the city), Chicago, and California are the reasons why I will never live in a state or city with only one strong political party at this point. All of them are kleptocracies (and effectively dictatorships).
emmelaich 5y ago
The author's pinned comment: To answer some common questions: a) I have already emailed & called, and I patiently await a reply... b) You can't re-renew with a 13 month old PIN if you already renewed. c) You can't show up in person without an appointment. d) Appointments are only granted by means of contact that don't reply. e) Yes I have two other licenses that AREN'T expired, but those are useless, they are for selling laptops, not fixing laptops, which I don't do anymore anyway after the city was unable to give me a straight answer on how to do so without being fined: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yi8_9WGk3Ok https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yi8_9WGk3Ok - I need this license in the video to be able to actually do repairs. f) Just listen to this. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yi8_9WGk3Ok https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yi8_9WGk3Ok This is what I am dealing with. After 15+ minutes and being transferred to two people, they can't answer a basic question about a rule they fined me for breaking that they can't even explain. They never emailed or called me back, which has been the behavior I have come to expect over the past nine years. I am serious, if you work for the city and have any way of applying my 13 month old payment to this license renewal, you have the gratitude of myself & 14 of my employees who will get to continue paying their rents, mortgages, & food bill for their kids. In spite of what people think, I am not a millionaire. If I'm forced to close - I can't afford to pay these people. I do not want that to happen. I am not meming, I never get responses to DCA emails - not 3 months ago, not for NINE YEARS, and I don't expect to be able to now. Since I cannot sort this out in person due to the COVID closures, this channel is my only hope of reaching someone who can help me sort this out. Thank you.
toofy 5y ago
is there a reason why it’s nothing but a link to a random youtube video rather than an article or something which can be skimmed? sorry poster, but i’m not going to watch minutes of a random youtube video from a random account to decide if this is interesting or just more youtube outragePorn for the outrage addicts.
- Wowfunhappy 5y ago
  Because the business-owner also has a popular Youtube channel. He does not have a popular blog.
  - danuker 5y ago
    Indeed. Talking into a camera is faster than typing.
    - probably_wrong 5y ago
      I agree with you on talking being faster than typing. Having said that, I feel that this is more of a reason for me (and, I assume, for the top commenter) to counterargue that it's the youtuber's job to distill the message down to its important parts. Speaking is definitely faster for him, but it requires a bigger compromise on my part - whatever amount of time he saved requires me to spend ~15 minutes for something that can be told in one. Or to put it bluntly: if he can't take the time to streamline his message then I don't have the time to listen to all of it just in case it gets interesting at some point.
      - halfeatenpie 5y ago
        His youtube channel started out as him just rambling to the camera about his problems and how absurd it is. It's grown since then as people have been following it. His channel is basically that, him talking to the camera about problems he sees in the world. He does what he wants with the channel. I'm sure he's not going to change that format anytime soon just because he has more followers. If you want to watch it sure. If not then that's fine. But he doesn't have to streamline anything and that might be his loss, but in the end it's his channel to do what he wishes.
mttpgn 5y ago
At 3:13 in the video, he says "The absolute tl;dr of this video is if you are buying devices from customers, you need to submit the information regarding that machine and the customer to a LEED's (sp?) online database[...] We don't buy these devices." (He sells used devices customers have forfeited or given to him for free).
- danuker 5y ago
  That's a different video referring to possibly having to fill an online form for refurbishing donated/abandoned devices. The current video is about the incompetence/malevolence of NYC DCA.
- yonran 5y ago
  Regarding the violation for electronic records of used goods for sale, he read the summons in this video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=965BLLWv8h8 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=965BLLWv8h8. The citations were for Administrative Code §20-273 https://codelibrary.amlegal.com/codes/newyorkcity/latest/NYCadmin/0-0-0-33242 https://codelibrary.amlegal.com/codes/newyorkcity/latest/NYC... (electronics record required for each purchase AND sale of second-hand articles) and Rules Title 28 §21-07 https://codelibrary.amlegal.com/codes/newyorkcity/latest/NYCrules/0-0-0-78502 https://codelibrary.amlegal.com/codes/newyorkcity/latest/NYC... (electronics record must be at a specified website https://www.leadsonline.com/ https://www.leadsonline.com/). If he didn’t purchase second-hand devices but did sell second-hand devices, then it seems that he would be required to enter each sale transaction on leadsonline. I’m not sure whether he tried to record each sale transaction there as required by the law.
- imroot 5y ago
  I think it's LEADS: Law Enforcement Agencies Data System In Ohio, it's operated by the Ohio State Highway Patrol. I know that Chicago has their own LEADS implementation. Wouldn't surprise me if NYC has their own. As a pawn shop owner, I have to submit the same records.
nodesocket 5y ago
Welcome to the world of New York bureaucracy and regulation. These sorts of stories are common and it’s why businesses are always complaining about New York and California. I used to have a California LLC. As a side note, if you were unable (forced) to operate your business due to Covid restrictions, California made no exceptions for the $800 LLC fees. It’s outrageous.
- MrBuddyCasino 5y ago
  The only way is to vote with your feet, and leave former political preferences behind in the states that where destroyed by them. I've heard Texas is a popular choice nowadays.
  - random314 5y ago
    California has been destroyed?
  - mbfg 5y ago
    He has 14 employees some of which can't move. His point is he doesn't want to screw them. The problem apparently is that the NYC has a department called the DCA, where you can't do anything without directly interacting with _people_ in the DCA, and the DCA refuses to interact with people.
- johnebgd 5y ago
  Insane. I just setup a company where it will take a few years to build something in Ohio. It's $99 once and no annual fees. Zero dollars a year. https://bsportal.ohiosos.gov/ https://bsportal.ohiosos.gov/ From my non legal perspective, if you aren't yet generating revenues it pays to incorporate outside of California.
  - tracedddd 5y ago
    Only issue is if you live in California and pay yourself you’re still subject to most of the California specific business laws as a company doing business in California, so it’s difficult to escape by incorporating elsewhere.
dt3ft 5y ago
Here is a summary from the Louis Rossmann YT comment: To answer some common questions: a) I have already emailed & called, and I patiently await a reply... b) You can't re-renew with a 13 month old PIN if you already renewed. c) You can't show up in person without an appointment. d) Appointments are only granted by means of contact that don't reply. e) Yes I have two other licenses that AREN'T expired, but those are useless, they are for selling laptops, not fixing laptops, which I don't do anymore anyway after the city was unable to give me a straight answer on how to do so without being fined: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yi8_9WGk3Ok https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yi8_9WGk3Ok - I need this license in the video to be able to actually do repairs. f) Just listen to this. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yi8_9WGk3Ok https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yi8_9WGk3Ok This is what I am dealing with. After 15+ minutes and being transferred to two people, they can't answer a basic question about a rule they fined me for breaking that they can't even explain. They never emailed or called me back, which has been the behavior I have come to expect over the past nine years. I am serious, if you work for the city and have any way of applying my 13 month old payment to this license renewal, you have the gratitude of myself & 14 of my employees who will get to continue paying their rents, mortgages, & food bill for their kids. In spite of what people think, I am not a millionaire. If I'm forced to close - I can't afford to pay these people. I do not want that to happen. I am not meming, I never get responses to DCA emails - not 3 months ago, not for NINE YEARS, and I don't expect to be able to now. Since I cannot sort this out in person due to the COVID closures, this channel is my only hope of reaching someone who can help me sort this out.
- raverbashing 5y ago
  This is not the time to play with city workers lacking in proactivity and/or competence. This is lawyer and/or representative time. Escalate the issue (ok, he's doing this with the video) If the payment was done, that shows intent on renewing the license. Might be worth nothing, might be worth something. Do you think if the city sits on a permit renewal by Chase or Starbucks that they'll diligently sit and wait? Yeah, right...
  - apercu 5y ago
    Agreed. Sue the city. That will get someones attention. Well, maybe not in NYC. I honestly don't know.
bradleyjg 5y ago
I’m not going to endorse it as a good or desirable system, on the contrary, but rather than shutting down his business this person should probably hire an expediter.
- crispyambulance 5y ago
  What is an expediter? I just assumed that small-businesses aren't shut down en-masse because the flip-side to impossible red-tape is lax-enforcement. I suppose that corporate retail establishments have lawyers retained to do this stuff. Are they doing something different?
  - bradleyjg 5y ago
    An expediter could be a law firm but doesn’t have to be. Often they employ former city employees. Expediters are experts at navigating the city bureaucracy and getting whatever license or permit is required. They are most commonly used by developers and bars but can be useful for all sorts of businesses.
    - oh_sigh 5y ago
      What does "navigation" mean here? How does one navigate a system if they say call or email us, and when you call or email them, they ignore you? Is "navigate" just a euphemism for having a personal connection on the inside that you can get favors done by?
      - makeitdouble 5y ago
        If we’re talking about developpers, “navigation” would be straight bribing I guess.
      - rtkwe 5y ago
        It doesn't have to be personal favors, a lot of issues are knowing who to bug, how to effectively bug them to get what you want done, and the right answers to any regulatory questions. A lot of time at work half the fight of getting something done for me is finding the right person to talk to to get the request information we need to file.
ruste 5y ago
At what point has New York violated his civil liberties through sheer red tape? Is this something the ACLU would pick up?
- timtas 5y ago
  They violated his rights when they required a license. Licensure is when the state sells you back your rights.
- gruez 5y ago
  IANAL, but my impression the 14th amendment seems to be one of the things that gets misinvoked all the time (along with RICO), so I'm going to guess "no".
  - curryst 5y ago
    I don't see anything in the 14th that would apply here. NYC has the right to regulate business, so they aren't depriving him of a right. A business license isn't "property", and they aren't seizing any assets. And I would guess that they aren't discriminating against him in particular; they're probably equally inept with everyone.
- mttpgn 5y ago
  The ACLU selectively deploys their limited resources only on cases which they believe can have a lasting national impact on constitutional interpretation.
  - the_optimist 5y ago
    ... and on promoting neoliberal ‘resistance’ cause célèbre, which varies with finances, leadership, and who happens to be holding political office. Surely positioning this licensing issue as such could almost instantly command the full weight and authority of that org.
- sigstoat 5y ago
  closer to being the sort of thing that the institute for justice would take.
freedomben 5y ago
All the recent evidences that any large organization will screw you over through technology and neglect, and the only way to get justice is to beg for it on social media and hope your post goes viral, does not fill me with optimism for our future.
Wowfunhappy 5y ago
This is probably naïve, but my initial thought is that if he already renewed his license a year ago, he should be all-clear to ignore the warning message, right? If someone says he's in violation, he can point to his renewal receipt.
- timtas 5y ago
  He addressed exactly that and said he expected the inspector would not care about the receipt and would shut his doors. This expectation is reasonable because it's totally consistent with all of his experiences so far.
- sneak 5y ago
  My guess would be that they fine him for operating on an expired license, then he has to spend thousands in legal fees fighting it, while his business is closed in the interim. Legal fees don't care about whether you're right or not. Ignoring the government when they are being inaccurate always ends with you losing money, not them.
  - Tostino 5y ago
    Unless you are a large enough corporation, then all bets are off.
71a54xd 5y ago
I've met Louis in person, he's truly a standup guy with a heart of gold. That said, he needs to pony up and get a lawyer. Making petty arguments on YouTube isn't going to help you with bureaucracy it's only going to make things worse. If government employees (state or otherwise) hate one thing, it's being called out point blank for how they either a) don't do their job or b) are effectively worthless. To be frank, I don't see why Louis hasn't left new york / the east coast yet. I was unfortunate enough to move to NYC just in time for covid. I still enjoyed my time in New York but I really understand a lot of what Louis has been saying about the city itself. Subsequently I left. He clearly hates the business climate, makes weekly videos about how much NYC sucks. Maybe for his own health it's time to move to another state?
- Aromasin 5y ago
  He mentions in his videos that it is largely because he has built up a team of people with a very specific expertise built over years working with him, that you can't just find - meaning training people up from scratch. He'd effectively be started the business from scratch in that case. He's offered them all very good relocation benefits but obviously if people are content they're not going to want to move and he doesn't want to forcefully coerce them to.
  - sangnoir 5y ago
    Why would you move from a city in which your skills are in high demand, and you already have a rolodex of clients with whom you have established a relationship? The relocation benefits have to be obscene to counter that glorious opportunity. As long as New Yorkers still exist in their dense millions, service providers will always appear to fill a market need, even when they have to jump hoops (to a point). NYC knows this. China knows this.
    - genmud 5y ago
      I believe a large portion of his business is now mail in repairs vs walk in repairs. Laptop repair also isn’t something that people have a regular customer base to rely on, it is very inconsistent. Rent and taxes in NYC are a massive amount of money, I’m sure he has ran the numbers to determine what’s best financially.
hudo 5y ago
Apple has to be behind all this, since he is so loud about their repair policy and fixing iphones instead of sending people to buy a new one :) !
- tristor 5y ago
  I'm guessing you're being satirical, but on the off-chance you're being serious: No, there is no conspiracy here. NYC city bureaucracy is insane at every level. This is standard fare. Louis already knows what he needs to do, but his personality bristles at being forced to do things that aren't required by the letter and shouldn't be required. He needs to hire a law firm to expedite his permits like every other business in NYC.
  - elmo2you 5y ago
    I don't know anything about this particular situation, so please consider the following purely speculative in regards to this case. I have lived for a long time in a country where insane bureaucracy and corruption are the norm. Probably up there with some of the worst on this planet. I've also seen quite a bit of what happens behind the scenes, from relationships with what someone might call the more privileged section of society. One thing I can say with a high degree of certainty from those experiences (no, I won't talk details): there usually are strong connections between the interests of powerful corporations/entities and insane bureaucracy and corruption, whenever the latter two exist. Even if they might not be directly the source or reasons for the existence of the latter, powerful corporations certainly know how to use their influence to maintain a dysfunctional status quo and use it to their advantage wherever they see an opportunity for it. While NYC bureaucracy no doubt exists for other reasons, it does not rule out there be something else going on here as well. Not a chance in hell anyone but a whistle-blower could ever prove that though. But that's exactly why it's so tempting for powerful entities to nurture and support corrupt/dysfunctional systems (as for them they work just fine, if not better). I can not speak for NYC (or anywhere inside the USA for that matter), but I have seen powerful entities work officials so that the function of governments would not improve. Of course, every American is free to believe no such things ever would take place in the USA .. however, that would certainly make the country exceptional (for a change), compared to how things works pretty much everywhere else on the planet.
andrewmcwatters 5y ago
I don't think people as many people realize this as they should, but when your local government is so incompetent they can't get back to you in a reasonable time, you're basically fucked. You almost cannot ever meaningfully sue them. Almost all national governance has sovereign immunity, and only occasionally relinquishes a portion of it to physical damages.
- boredwithlife 5y ago
  You can always vote with actions: either ignore the gov and practice business without their permission or start murdering a few of the less productive government employees to motivate the others to actually work.
gumby 5y ago
There’s no transcript attached to the video for some reason (and the poster frame looks like an ad). What’s the issue? People are quoting Rossman’s YT comment but it is predicated on you knowing what his actual complaint is.
sanedigital 5y ago
I tell anyone who will listen: stay as far away from NYC and NYS as you can when you're operating a business. The bureaucracy is insanely complex and both governments harbor a very strong anti-business sentiment. NYS charged my previous, 2-person, zero employee agency a $14K fee for not having a Workers Comp policy, even though having one isn't necessary for member-managed businesses. We sent in paperwork demonstrating our case and they didn't care. They kept asking for more proof that we didn't have employees—even though they had no evidence that we did have them. A bit hard to prove a negative! After several years of back and forth, we finally just said forget it, closed that entity, and started ignoring the monthly shakedown notices. Now I'm wary of even having clients in NYS. [Edit: I've heard CA is similar, but don't have personal experience there.]
- andrewmcwatters 5y ago
  NY and CA make it clear enough to the rest of us by the fees for starting a business, let alone the operating risk.
  - seriousquestion 5y ago
    To wit, CA charges $800 PER YEAR to have an LLC. For many small one person LLCs, that $800 a year makes a big difference. $8,000 over a decade.
    - systemvoltage 5y ago
      The argument I hear from folks in CA is that people who own LLCs are already rich and they can afford $800. This is exactly the attitude that makes people move out of CA. It is ridiculous taxation and government fees for pushing papers. It would be far better to let people start companies for free and then pay whatever fees after generating $1M revenue. You know, after they're "Rich". SMH.
      - hogFeast 5y ago
        It also entrenches inequality. Design a system that assumes everyone is rich, poor people can never rise. As someone not from the US, this aspect of the US has always amazed me. There is huge regulation on business at the state-level, particularly SMEs, but the US has a functioning economy somehow...do the rich just incorporate in Delaware? It is amazing to think that the US has succeeded in spite of significant efforts to fail. Introducing flat fees on business creation is tying a noose round your own neck economically.
eplanit 5y ago
The solution: leave New York. The idea of having to get permission to operate a business (unless it causes pollution, etc.) is anti-American. Don't accept such rules, and move to where that kind of nonsense doesn't happen. Vote with your feet/wallet.
- chias 5y ago
  And the 14 people that he employs?
  - theandrewbailey 5y ago
    I watch Louis' channel often, but I don't recall him mentioning what his employees think (only that they exist). For all we know, they might be as fed up with NYC as Louis is.
    - chias 5y ago
      Being fed up with NYC is one thing. Telling your wife and kids that you know they have friends and relationships and a school they are used to that they're moving a thousand miles within the next three weeks, and you're sure your kid's best friend or your teenager's boyfriend or your wife's book club will be fantastic penpals is quite another. And that isn't even touching on family ties. I have a friend who moved to Portland recently. Ended up moving back three months later because his very young child couldn't handle not being able to spend time with his grandparents. People develop roots, and do not transplant easily on a timeframe measured in weeks.
    - pdq 5y ago
      Watch the video from this HN story. Louis explains the exact reasons mentioned: some of his employees have families in NYC and he doesn't want to force them to move. The implication is he's going to convert NYC to a remote shop, and move the main shop out pretty soon (likely to Florida). Employees can choose to stay or to be relocated to the new location.
addicted 5y ago
https://www1.nyc.gov/site/dca/businesses/live-chat.page https://www1.nyc.gov/site/dca/businesses/live-chat.page
addicted 5y ago
Also, Rossmann needs to look into this: https://www1.nyc.gov/assets/dca/downloads/pdf/businesses/Does-Your-Consumer-Affairs-License-Expire-February-through-June-2020.pdf https://www1.nyc.gov/assets/dca/downloads/pdf/businesses/Doe... It's likely that he doesn't even need to renew his license.
- burnte 5y ago
  In the early part of the video he mentions that this extension has eben terminated, hence the letter.
xibalba 5y ago
Issues like these are why many people conclude it’s best to reduce the size and power of government. The incompetence and apathy in this small, city level bureaucracy is akin to lighting taxpayer money on fire. Now scale that to huge society-wide government initiatives and departments and you have an awe inspiring level of waste.
- EricE 5y ago
  If you listen to the phone call he had with that organization - the level of apathy and incompetence is breathtaking. That whole conversation reeks of an organization that has never had to be accountable to anyone for anything. You'd think people would at least have some basic professional pride but here we are.
  - nvilcins 5y ago
    And the best part is - the citizens (who are impacted by this directly or indirectly) are paying for this.
- abyssin 5y ago
  Reducing the size of the government wouldn’t solve much, though, and it would rather make it even more disappointing. This kind of malfunction almost looks like some people in power are ok with leaving the impression the government is impossible to fix, and its size should be reduced.
  - nemo44x 5y ago
    Except for it's NYC which means I can assure you the people in power love government and would love more of it and think they're actually doing a good job. I think what you get in places with limitless opportunity like NYC is the people attracted to government are either not able to cut it in a city like NYC (hence why government employees there are generally incompetent and indifferent) or see the immense wealth as something they can latch on to and exploit to satisfy their hunger for power over other people.
  - syshum 5y ago
johnnyfived 5y ago
I can't speak much for living in other states, but the state government of New York is incredibly slow and unresponsive at best, and at worst purposefully designed to be be a labyrinth with as many blockers as possible to reach someone. I can't imagine being part of an older generation and not as tech-savvy trying to receive help over the phone or online, whether it's from contacting unemployment, business licenses, the council, etc. They make it next to impossible (just look online about trying to get a human on the phone, if you just kept calling and didn't know to seek outside help from people who already have figured it out, you could literally never end up contacting someone). The fact that they tax so aggressively and I've paid so much over the last several years living here really pisses me off. If you do need NY's state government help they are not there for you, and they don't care about you. But they'll gladly keep taking your money.
- jimmaswell 5y ago
  I grew up here and I agree. I lived elsewhere for a while and it was amazing having something approaching freedom for once, no crazy gun laws and taxes and even the DMV was better - no crazy long forms with redundant/unnecessary information, just put some stuff in a website then walk in with your documents. No unnecessary inspection and other stickers cluttering up the windshield either. Last state didn't even make me mail the plates back like NY would so I got to keep them as a memento. NY is additionally the only or almost only place left to not allow those little gas pump flaps that keep them on when you walk away. I unfortunately had to move back for a family issue but I can't wait to get out again. I think next time I might get some nice land in Wyoming, about as opposite NY as you can get.
TravisHusky 5y ago
This sounds like something out of a Franz Kafka story.
rafale 5y ago
This is what I call soft tyranny.
mattzito 5y ago
Terrible that this guy has to go through this - there's a lot of terrible city agencies, and I've heard general horror stories about the DCA for years. That being said, at this point throwing your hands up and saying "I don't know what to do, help me youtube" is the wrong way to handle this. I was going to make the suggestion about a lawyer, then I saw another poster had done so. The other route to go here is to reach out to your city council member. In NYC, there are enough city council members that they will respond to your request and someone will get back to you. They can make things happen, especially as it pertains to ridiculous bureaucracy. In NYC, we also have a public advocate, whose job is literally to help smooth over disconnects between the public and nyc government agencies. They have a form right on their website where you can request help. Either of these approaches (or both!) would be more productive than complaining on youtube.
- robocat 5y ago
  > youtube" is the wrong way to handle this It worked: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=27813338 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=27813338
notananthem 5y ago
Having worked in public sector, its laughable you blame "the government," how big it is, how corrupt etc things are. The problem is your government is just your neighbors making 25% or less of your tech salary, who have very complex rules and processes they have to follow, and it takes a lot of effort to make those more efficient. No, because things are inefficient, it is absolutely not an invitation for every shthead to offer their two cents on how to fix it. That's literally what public employees spend most of their day doing, trying to get private employees they interact with to fck off and stop "explaining" how they'd fix things. What do you do in situations like this? Well, seeing as public employees aren't paid to watch youtube videos, you surely won't get any response via youtube viral videos. You will get people hating on underpaid public employees more, yes. You could escalate and send certified mail, have an attorney make contact, etc. You'd be surprised to know, there isn't someone sitting on the other end trying to make things worse for you. Its just your underpaid neighbor. If you're a psychotic libertarian who is just screaming at this reply, yes, please, move somewhere with less regulation to make some sort of point, we'd all love you to move.
- nicky0 5y ago
  The real question is why is a government license needed to operate a business at all?
- KingMachiavelli 5y ago
  If the government can't find people to implement/understand or automate the complex set of rules then it shouldn't make the rules. His channel is popular enough and NY is big enough there is a decent chance that someone watching will know someone who works in some government role in NY.
scrose 5y ago
As someone whose gotten pretty involved in advocacy work in the city, this is the sad chain of events that I can imagine might work(Probably not within 30days though): 1. Contact the local community board where the business is and try and speak during public hours during a meeting. Let them know the situation, point out how badly it's impacting business and see if they can reach out to their contacts to get a direct contact. Attendance and representation at these meetings skews heavily towards older wealthier people, so they likely have much more experience working within the system. 2. NYPD reps usually show up at CB meetings. After you speak, talk to one of the NYPD reps and get their info in front of everyone. If you go directly to the precinct there's practically a 0% chance anything productive will happen(especially because you can't legally record anything in a precinct anymore), but the reps they send to CB meetings have to look like they're doing something and will likely give you a card with their personal email and phone number. If you send an email to them about the situation, you'll have another form of documentation to put up, even if they do nothing to help directly. 3. Contact your local councilmember's office via phone. YMMV, but I was very surprised how receptive mine was to complaints I had and how quickly they were able to get some situations resolved after a few emails.
- metalliqaz 5y ago
  why would NYPD have anything to do with it?
  - scrose 5y ago
    They are typically the main group of people who enforce laws in NYC, and operating a business without a license sounds like something they’d come in quick to shutdown. They were also the ones who originally came to his place to handle a separate ‘incident’ that he was fined for that he discussed for several minutes in his video. So instead of waiting for them to come by and find an excuse to shut him down or fine him again, it’s better to have written communication with the precinct captain to fall back on that explains his case.
- r00fus 5y ago
  Seems like #3 is the only real timely approach. I have reached out to my representative (either local or federal) and have gotten meaningful responses and in several cases, they took action that successfully helped to resolve the issue (in one case, someone held in border detention, in the other case a local french preschool that was in threat of going out of business due to some fire code misunderstanding). It's not a sure thing but it's has a good likelihood of results.
robfig 5y ago
I have a similar (but much less severe) situation -- need to change my car registration, but my NY State online account has been locked "for security". Calling the phone number says "please use the online portal", but has an option to continue to wait for an agent. However, there is no queue, just a message that says there are high volumes of calls and try your call again. I called at various times over a couple weeks until giving up and just driving with an incorrect registration. Not ideal, tbh. And don't get me started on the local USPS.
- jimmaswell 5y ago
  Can't you just make a DMV appointment?
sandworm101 5y ago
I've been following Rossmann's videos on NYC commercial real estate. It is just shocking to see how many vacant commercial properties there are on every block. His street-level videos are, imho, more telling than any professional market analysis.
- failwhaleshark 5y ago
  It's not lying...
dcolkitt 5y ago
What’s frustrating about this is how indifferent people are to these institutional failures. They’ll just shrug their shoulders and say “sounds like a problem for the fat cats that run companies”. The vast bulk of civilization runs on business. Unless you’re content with North Korean living standards you need to make it possible for people to start, run and grow businesses. A society that fails on this point is just as fucked as one that can’t keep clean drinking water flowing or achieve basic literacy.
ehutch79 5y ago
This all really sounds like a lawyer needs to be involved
gandalfian 5y ago
YouTube comments suggest people have now got in touch with him and basically fixed it. So well done him for kicking up a fuss if no way to run a system...
dlsa 5y ago
The frustrating part of this type of saga is that nothing will improve from this. It's very likely its not even due to lack of resources. I'd be fascinated to see a journalist's investigation into why this took Louis needing to go to the internet for something essentially quite trivial. And yes, granting licenses should be regular, boring, routine paperwork.
srtjstjsj 5y ago
Can we get non clickbait title?
COGlory 5y ago
LBRY mirror: https://lbry.tv/@rossmanngroup:a/my-business-might-have-32-days-before:d https://lbry.tv/@rossmanngroup:a/my-business-might-have-32-d...
ajoseps 5y ago
Rossman posted an update indicating the issue got resolved: https://youtu.be/hKSt0RrrtdA https://youtu.be/hKSt0RrrtdA
cwkoss 5y ago
Rossmann got a resolution! He posted an update video an hour ago. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hKSt0RrrtdA https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hKSt0RrrtdA
whalesalad 5y ago
At some point you gotta ask yourself: why am I still in NY?
toomanyrichies 5y ago
Update- Louis Rossmann just released a 2nd video on Youtube saying his situation has been resolved and thanking the people who helped him: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hKSt0RrrtdA https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hKSt0RrrtdA
bfung 5y ago
Lucky for him, he has 1.59mil YouTube followers and the issue was resolved https://youtu.be/hKSt0RrrtdA https://youtu.be/hKSt0RrrtdA As he rightfully says, the process should be the same for other small businesses that don’t have 1.59m YouTube subscribers.
testrun 5y ago
Fixed(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hKSt0RrrtdA https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hKSt0RrrtdA).

521 points by xbmcuser 5y ago

This guy will be in Texas within a year.

It would be nice to post a text summary so those of us who don't want to waste time sifting through a 17 minute video can get a summary and decide to keep reading/watching or move on.

ihatethissite 5y ago
There is a summary in the description of the video.
- callamdelaney 5y ago
  There isn't
- tyleo 5y ago
  I don’t think this is true. At least on iOS I only see links to more videos in the description.
- darrenf 5y ago
  Currently (2021-07-12, 14:46 BST) the description is nothing but 3 other YouTube links.
- limeblack 5y ago
  It's in the comments.
- EricE 5y ago
  It's in the pinned comment at the top.
- deleted 5y ago
  [deleted]
- deleted 5y ago
  [deleted]
tw04 5y ago
He's complaining about the NYC licensing bureau sending him a letter about renewing his business license when he already did it last June. I didn't watch the whole thing either because I didn't find it particularly interesting. I'm assuming the license is supposed to be good for more than one year given his rant, which means he probably just got the mailer by accident and is making a clickbait video.
- gregorymichael 5y ago
  No, having worked with others going through the same issue -- the NYC beauracracy for local businesses is truly broken and terrifying for small time operators.
  - treeman79 5y ago
    Actual serious question. Are bribes a part of the picture of getting things done? Met people who talk about greasing the wheel to get things done. But won’t say more.
    - gregorymichael 5y ago
      My guess is most bribes take the form of campaign contributions, and are out of reach for a coffee shop doing $150k/year in revenue.
    - klodolph 5y ago
      I haven't heard any rumors to that effect. I've talked to small business owners who have gotten fined for various infractions in NYC, just casually, and my impression is that it's just bureaucracy in action--lots of rules, randomly enforced by people who individually interpret them one way or another. For example, a store selling used equipment was fined for not individually labeling the equipment as used. All equipment in the store is used, it's all outdated stuff, and it's completely obvious. But one day someone from the city shows up and levies a fine. So now this scuffed, obsolete gear from the 1990s has a "used" sticker on it.
    - deleted 5y ago
      [deleted]

gregorymichael 5y ago

Last year I helped the owner of my local coffee shop renew his NYC license. I've been doing web development over 20 years and barely managed to navigate their website. It took over an hour and dozens of attempts to pay a couple hundred dollars to renew one of the many licenses he needs to stay open. We moved to New York five years ago and I've come to believe the propaganda that it is the Greatest City in the World. This experience more than any other -- the hoops that every smalltime entrepreneur has to hop through -- seriously called that claim into question.

afavour 5y ago
I say this as a liberal believer in government: NYC (and NY state) make one of the worst cases for effective governance out of anywhere I’ve lived. (it’s all relative, of course: the places I’ve lived have been cities and towns in relatively prosperous western nations)
- fallingknife 5y ago
  Guess you haven't lived in California.
  - bushbaba 5y ago
    To be fair the California online systems are better than any other state I worked in.
  - wbl 5y ago
    California goveement workers I've had to interact with are smart and helpful and go the extra mile to let you know what you need to do. The problem is the rules they don't make.
- pclmulqdq 5y ago
  New York (the state and the city), Chicago, and California are the reasons why I will never live in a state or city with only one strong political party at this point. All of them are kleptocracies (and effectively dictatorships).

emmelaich 5y ago

The author's pinned comment: To answer some common questions: a) I have already emailed & called, and I patiently await a reply... b) You can't re-renew with a 13 month old PIN if you already renewed. c) You can't show up in person without an appointment. d) Appointments are only granted by means of contact that don't reply. e) Yes I have two other licenses that AREN'T expired, but those are useless, they are for selling laptops, not fixing laptops, which I don't do anymore anyway after the city was unable to give me a straight answer on how to do so without being fined: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yi8_9WGk3Ok https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yi8_9WGk3Ok - I need this license in the video to be able to actually do repairs. f) Just listen to this. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yi8_9WGk3Ok https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yi8_9WGk3Ok This is what I am dealing with. After 15+ minutes and being transferred to two people, they can't answer a basic question about a rule they fined me for breaking that they can't even explain. They never emailed or called me back, which has been the behavior I have come to expect over the past nine years. I am serious, if you work for the city and have any way of applying my 13 month old payment to this license renewal, you have the gratitude of myself & 14 of my employees who will get to continue paying their rents, mortgages, & food bill for their kids. In spite of what people think, I am not a millionaire. If I'm forced to close - I can't afford to pay these people. I do not want that to happen. I am not meming, I never get responses to DCA emails - not 3 months ago, not for NINE YEARS, and I don't expect to be able to now. Since I cannot sort this out in person due to the COVID closures, this channel is my only hope of reaching someone who can help me sort this out. Thank you.

toofy 5y ago

is there a reason why it’s nothing but a link to a random youtube video rather than an article or something which can be skimmed? sorry poster, but i’m not going to watch minutes of a random youtube video from a random account to decide if this is interesting or just more youtube outragePorn for the outrage addicts.

Wowfunhappy 5y ago
Because the business-owner also has a popular Youtube channel. He does not have a popular blog.
- danuker 5y ago
  Indeed. Talking into a camera is faster than typing.
  - probably_wrong 5y ago
    I agree with you on talking being faster than typing. Having said that, I feel that this is more of a reason for me (and, I assume, for the top commenter) to counterargue that it's the youtuber's job to distill the message down to its important parts. Speaking is definitely faster for him, but it requires a bigger compromise on my part - whatever amount of time he saved requires me to spend ~15 minutes for something that can be told in one. Or to put it bluntly: if he can't take the time to streamline his message then I don't have the time to listen to all of it just in case it gets interesting at some point.
    - halfeatenpie 5y ago
      His youtube channel started out as him just rambling to the camera about his problems and how absurd it is. It's grown since then as people have been following it. His channel is basically that, him talking to the camera about problems he sees in the world. He does what he wants with the channel. I'm sure he's not going to change that format anytime soon just because he has more followers. If you want to watch it sure. If not then that's fine. But he doesn't have to streamline anything and that might be his loss, but in the end it's his channel to do what he wishes.

mttpgn 5y ago

At 3:13 in the video, he says "The absolute tl;dr of this video is if you are buying devices from customers, you need to submit the information regarding that machine and the customer to a LEED's (sp?) online database[...] We don't buy these devices." (He sells used devices customers have forfeited or given to him for free).

danuker 5y ago
That's a different video referring to possibly having to fill an online form for refurbishing donated/abandoned devices. The current video is about the incompetence/malevolence of NYC DCA.
yonran 5y ago
Regarding the violation for electronic records of used goods for sale, he read the summons in this video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=965BLLWv8h8 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=965BLLWv8h8. The citations were for Administrative Code §20-273 https://codelibrary.amlegal.com/codes/newyorkcity/latest/NYCadmin/0-0-0-33242 https://codelibrary.amlegal.com/codes/newyorkcity/latest/NYC... (electronics record required for each purchase AND sale of second-hand articles) and Rules Title 28 §21-07 https://codelibrary.amlegal.com/codes/newyorkcity/latest/NYCrules/0-0-0-78502 https://codelibrary.amlegal.com/codes/newyorkcity/latest/NYC... (electronics record must be at a specified website https://www.leadsonline.com/ https://www.leadsonline.com/). If he didn’t purchase second-hand devices but did sell second-hand devices, then it seems that he would be required to enter each sale transaction on leadsonline. I’m not sure whether he tried to record each sale transaction there as required by the law.
imroot 5y ago
I think it's LEADS: Law Enforcement Agencies Data System In Ohio, it's operated by the Ohio State Highway Patrol. I know that Chicago has their own LEADS implementation. Wouldn't surprise me if NYC has their own. As a pawn shop owner, I have to submit the same records.

nodesocket 5y ago

Welcome to the world of New York bureaucracy and regulation. These sorts of stories are common and it’s why businesses are always complaining about New York and California. I used to have a California LLC. As a side note, if you were unable (forced) to operate your business due to Covid restrictions, California made no exceptions for the $800 LLC fees. It’s outrageous.

MrBuddyCasino 5y ago
The only way is to vote with your feet, and leave former political preferences behind in the states that where destroyed by them. I've heard Texas is a popular choice nowadays.
- random314 5y ago
  California has been destroyed?
- mbfg 5y ago
  He has 14 employees some of which can't move. His point is he doesn't want to screw them. The problem apparently is that the NYC has a department called the DCA, where you can't do anything without directly interacting with _people_ in the DCA, and the DCA refuses to interact with people.
johnebgd 5y ago
Insane. I just setup a company where it will take a few years to build something in Ohio. It's $99 once and no annual fees. Zero dollars a year. https://bsportal.ohiosos.gov/ https://bsportal.ohiosos.gov/ From my non legal perspective, if you aren't yet generating revenues it pays to incorporate outside of California.
- tracedddd 5y ago
  Only issue is if you live in California and pay yourself you’re still subject to most of the California specific business laws as a company doing business in California, so it’s difficult to escape by incorporating elsewhere.

dt3ft 5y ago

Here is a summary from the Louis Rossmann YT comment: To answer some common questions: a) I have already emailed & called, and I patiently await a reply... b) You can't re-renew with a 13 month old PIN if you already renewed. c) You can't show up in person without an appointment. d) Appointments are only granted by means of contact that don't reply. e) Yes I have two other licenses that AREN'T expired, but those are useless, they are for selling laptops, not fixing laptops, which I don't do anymore anyway after the city was unable to give me a straight answer on how to do so without being fined: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yi8_9WGk3Ok https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yi8_9WGk3Ok - I need this license in the video to be able to actually do repairs. f) Just listen to this. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yi8_9WGk3Ok https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yi8_9WGk3Ok This is what I am dealing with. After 15+ minutes and being transferred to two people, they can't answer a basic question about a rule they fined me for breaking that they can't even explain. They never emailed or called me back, which has been the behavior I have come to expect over the past nine years. I am serious, if you work for the city and have any way of applying my 13 month old payment to this license renewal, you have the gratitude of myself & 14 of my employees who will get to continue paying their rents, mortgages, & food bill for their kids. In spite of what people think, I am not a millionaire. If I'm forced to close - I can't afford to pay these people. I do not want that to happen. I am not meming, I never get responses to DCA emails - not 3 months ago, not for NINE YEARS, and I don't expect to be able to now. Since I cannot sort this out in person due to the COVID closures, this channel is my only hope of reaching someone who can help me sort this out.

raverbashing 5y ago
This is not the time to play with city workers lacking in proactivity and/or competence. This is lawyer and/or representative time. Escalate the issue (ok, he's doing this with the video) If the payment was done, that shows intent on renewing the license. Might be worth nothing, might be worth something. Do you think if the city sits on a permit renewal by Chase or Starbucks that they'll diligently sit and wait? Yeah, right...
- apercu 5y ago
  Agreed. Sue the city. That will get someones attention. Well, maybe not in NYC. I honestly don't know.

bradleyjg 5y ago

I’m not going to endorse it as a good or desirable system, on the contrary, but rather than shutting down his business this person should probably hire an expediter.

crispyambulance 5y ago
What is an expediter? I just assumed that small-businesses aren't shut down en-masse because the flip-side to impossible red-tape is lax-enforcement. I suppose that corporate retail establishments have lawyers retained to do this stuff. Are they doing something different?
- bradleyjg 5y ago
  An expediter could be a law firm but doesn’t have to be. Often they employ former city employees. Expediters are experts at navigating the city bureaucracy and getting whatever license or permit is required. They are most commonly used by developers and bars but can be useful for all sorts of businesses.
  - oh_sigh 5y ago
    What does "navigation" mean here? How does one navigate a system if they say call or email us, and when you call or email them, they ignore you? Is "navigate" just a euphemism for having a personal connection on the inside that you can get favors done by?
    - makeitdouble 5y ago
      If we’re talking about developpers, “navigation” would be straight bribing I guess.
    - rtkwe 5y ago
      It doesn't have to be personal favors, a lot of issues are knowing who to bug, how to effectively bug them to get what you want done, and the right answers to any regulatory questions. A lot of time at work half the fight of getting something done for me is finding the right person to talk to to get the request information we need to file.

ruste 5y ago

At what point has New York violated his civil liberties through sheer red tape? Is this something the ACLU would pick up?

timtas 5y ago
They violated his rights when they required a license. Licensure is when the state sells you back your rights.
gruez 5y ago
IANAL, but my impression the 14th amendment seems to be one of the things that gets misinvoked all the time (along with RICO), so I'm going to guess "no".
- curryst 5y ago
  I don't see anything in the 14th that would apply here. NYC has the right to regulate business, so they aren't depriving him of a right. A business license isn't "property", and they aren't seizing any assets. And I would guess that they aren't discriminating against him in particular; they're probably equally inept with everyone.
mttpgn 5y ago
The ACLU selectively deploys their limited resources only on cases which they believe can have a lasting national impact on constitutional interpretation.
- the_optimist 5y ago
  ... and on promoting neoliberal ‘resistance’ cause célèbre, which varies with finances, leadership, and who happens to be holding political office. Surely positioning this licensing issue as such could almost instantly command the full weight and authority of that org.
sigstoat 5y ago
closer to being the sort of thing that the institute for justice would take.

freedomben 5y ago

All the recent evidences that any large organization will screw you over through technology and neglect, and the only way to get justice is to beg for it on social media and hope your post goes viral, does not fill me with optimism for our future.

Wowfunhappy 5y ago

This is probably naïve, but my initial thought is that if he already renewed his license a year ago, he should be all-clear to ignore the warning message, right? If someone says he's in violation, he can point to his renewal receipt.

timtas 5y ago
He addressed exactly that and said he expected the inspector would not care about the receipt and would shut his doors. This expectation is reasonable because it's totally consistent with all of his experiences so far.
sneak 5y ago
My guess would be that they fine him for operating on an expired license, then he has to spend thousands in legal fees fighting it, while his business is closed in the interim. Legal fees don't care about whether you're right or not. Ignoring the government when they are being inaccurate always ends with you losing money, not them.
- Tostino 5y ago
  Unless you are a large enough corporation, then all bets are off.

71a54xd 5y ago

I've met Louis in person, he's truly a standup guy with a heart of gold. That said, he needs to pony up and get a lawyer. Making petty arguments on YouTube isn't going to help you with bureaucracy it's only going to make things worse. If government employees (state or otherwise) hate one thing, it's being called out point blank for how they either a) don't do their job or b) are effectively worthless. To be frank, I don't see why Louis hasn't left new york / the east coast yet. I was unfortunate enough to move to NYC just in time for covid. I still enjoyed my time in New York but I really understand a lot of what Louis has been saying about the city itself. Subsequently I left. He clearly hates the business climate, makes weekly videos about how much NYC sucks. Maybe for his own health it's time to move to another state?

Aromasin 5y ago
He mentions in his videos that it is largely because he has built up a team of people with a very specific expertise built over years working with him, that you can't just find - meaning training people up from scratch. He'd effectively be started the business from scratch in that case. He's offered them all very good relocation benefits but obviously if people are content they're not going to want to move and he doesn't want to forcefully coerce them to.
- sangnoir 5y ago
  Why would you move from a city in which your skills are in high demand, and you already have a rolodex of clients with whom you have established a relationship? The relocation benefits have to be obscene to counter that glorious opportunity. As long as New Yorkers still exist in their dense millions, service providers will always appear to fill a market need, even when they have to jump hoops (to a point). NYC knows this. China knows this.
  - genmud 5y ago
    I believe a large portion of his business is now mail in repairs vs walk in repairs. Laptop repair also isn’t something that people have a regular customer base to rely on, it is very inconsistent. Rent and taxes in NYC are a massive amount of money, I’m sure he has ran the numbers to determine what’s best financially.

hudo 5y ago

Apple has to be behind all this, since he is so loud about their repair policy and fixing iphones instead of sending people to buy a new one :) !

tristor 5y ago
I'm guessing you're being satirical, but on the off-chance you're being serious: No, there is no conspiracy here. NYC city bureaucracy is insane at every level. This is standard fare. Louis already knows what he needs to do, but his personality bristles at being forced to do things that aren't required by the letter and shouldn't be required. He needs to hire a law firm to expedite his permits like every other business in NYC.
- elmo2you 5y ago
  I don't know anything about this particular situation, so please consider the following purely speculative in regards to this case. I have lived for a long time in a country where insane bureaucracy and corruption are the norm. Probably up there with some of the worst on this planet. I've also seen quite a bit of what happens behind the scenes, from relationships with what someone might call the more privileged section of society. One thing I can say with a high degree of certainty from those experiences (no, I won't talk details): there usually are strong connections between the interests of powerful corporations/entities and insane bureaucracy and corruption, whenever the latter two exist. Even if they might not be directly the source or reasons for the existence of the latter, powerful corporations certainly know how to use their influence to maintain a dysfunctional status quo and use it to their advantage wherever they see an opportunity for it. While NYC bureaucracy no doubt exists for other reasons, it does not rule out there be something else going on here as well. Not a chance in hell anyone but a whistle-blower could ever prove that though. But that's exactly why it's so tempting for powerful entities to nurture and support corrupt/dysfunctional systems (as for them they work just fine, if not better). I can not speak for NYC (or anywhere inside the USA for that matter), but I have seen powerful entities work officials so that the function of governments would not improve. Of course, every American is free to believe no such things ever would take place in the USA .. however, that would certainly make the country exceptional (for a change), compared to how things works pretty much everywhere else on the planet.

andrewmcwatters 5y ago

I don't think people as many people realize this as they should, but when your local government is so incompetent they can't get back to you in a reasonable time, you're basically fucked. You almost cannot ever meaningfully sue them. Almost all national governance has sovereign immunity, and only occasionally relinquishes a portion of it to physical damages.

boredwithlife 5y ago
You can always vote with actions: either ignore the gov and practice business without their permission or start murdering a few of the less productive government employees to motivate the others to actually work.

gumby 5y ago

There’s no transcript attached to the video for some reason (and the poster frame looks like an ad). What’s the issue? People are quoting Rossman’s YT comment but it is predicated on you knowing what his actual complaint is.

sanedigital 5y ago

I tell anyone who will listen: stay as far away from NYC and NYS as you can when you're operating a business. The bureaucracy is insanely complex and both governments harbor a very strong anti-business sentiment. NYS charged my previous, 2-person, zero employee agency a $14K fee for not having a Workers Comp policy, even though having one isn't necessary for member-managed businesses. We sent in paperwork demonstrating our case and they didn't care. They kept asking for more proof that we didn't have employees—even though they had no evidence that we did have them. A bit hard to prove a negative! After several years of back and forth, we finally just said forget it, closed that entity, and started ignoring the monthly shakedown notices. Now I'm wary of even having clients in NYS. [Edit: I've heard CA is similar, but don't have personal experience there.]

andrewmcwatters 5y ago
NY and CA make it clear enough to the rest of us by the fees for starting a business, let alone the operating risk.
- seriousquestion 5y ago
  To wit, CA charges $800 PER YEAR to have an LLC. For many small one person LLCs, that $800 a year makes a big difference. $8,000 over a decade.
  - systemvoltage 5y ago
    The argument I hear from folks in CA is that people who own LLCs are already rich and they can afford $800. This is exactly the attitude that makes people move out of CA. It is ridiculous taxation and government fees for pushing papers. It would be far better to let people start companies for free and then pay whatever fees after generating $1M revenue. You know, after they're "Rich". SMH.
    - hogFeast 5y ago
      It also entrenches inequality. Design a system that assumes everyone is rich, poor people can never rise. As someone not from the US, this aspect of the US has always amazed me. There is huge regulation on business at the state-level, particularly SMEs, but the US has a functioning economy somehow...do the rich just incorporate in Delaware? It is amazing to think that the US has succeeded in spite of significant efforts to fail. Introducing flat fees on business creation is tying a noose round your own neck economically.

eplanit 5y ago

The solution: leave New York. The idea of having to get permission to operate a business (unless it causes pollution, etc.) is anti-American. Don't accept such rules, and move to where that kind of nonsense doesn't happen. Vote with your feet/wallet.

chias 5y ago
And the 14 people that he employs?
- theandrewbailey 5y ago
  I watch Louis' channel often, but I don't recall him mentioning what his employees think (only that they exist). For all we know, they might be as fed up with NYC as Louis is.
  - chias 5y ago
    Being fed up with NYC is one thing. Telling your wife and kids that you know they have friends and relationships and a school they are used to that they're moving a thousand miles within the next three weeks, and you're sure your kid's best friend or your teenager's boyfriend or your wife's book club will be fantastic penpals is quite another. And that isn't even touching on family ties. I have a friend who moved to Portland recently. Ended up moving back three months later because his very young child couldn't handle not being able to spend time with his grandparents. People develop roots, and do not transplant easily on a timeframe measured in weeks.
  - pdq 5y ago
    Watch the video from this HN story. Louis explains the exact reasons mentioned: some of his employees have families in NYC and he doesn't want to force them to move. The implication is he's going to convert NYC to a remote shop, and move the main shop out pretty soon (likely to Florida). Employees can choose to stay or to be relocated to the new location.

addicted 5y ago

https://www1.nyc.gov/site/dca/businesses/live-chat.page https://www1.nyc.gov/site/dca/businesses/live-chat.page

addicted 5y ago

Also, Rossmann needs to look into this: https://www1.nyc.gov/assets/dca/downloads/pdf/businesses/Does-Your-Consumer-Affairs-License-Expire-February-through-June-2020.pdf https://www1.nyc.gov/assets/dca/downloads/pdf/businesses/Doe... It's likely that he doesn't even need to renew his license.

burnte 5y ago
In the early part of the video he mentions that this extension has eben terminated, hence the letter.

xibalba 5y ago

Issues like these are why many people conclude it’s best to reduce the size and power of government. The incompetence and apathy in this small, city level bureaucracy is akin to lighting taxpayer money on fire. Now scale that to huge society-wide government initiatives and departments and you have an awe inspiring level of waste.

EricE 5y ago
If you listen to the phone call he had with that organization - the level of apathy and incompetence is breathtaking. That whole conversation reeks of an organization that has never had to be accountable to anyone for anything. You'd think people would at least have some basic professional pride but here we are.
- nvilcins 5y ago
  And the best part is - the citizens (who are impacted by this directly or indirectly) are paying for this.
abyssin 5y ago
Reducing the size of the government wouldn’t solve much, though, and it would rather make it even more disappointing. This kind of malfunction almost looks like some people in power are ok with leaving the impression the government is impossible to fix, and its size should be reduced.
- nemo44x 5y ago
  Except for it's NYC which means I can assure you the people in power love government and would love more of it and think they're actually doing a good job. I think what you get in places with limitless opportunity like NYC is the people attracted to government are either not able to cut it in a city like NYC (hence why government employees there are generally incompetent and indifferent) or see the immense wealth as something they can latch on to and exploit to satisfy their hunger for power over other people.
- syshum 5y ago

johnnyfived 5y ago

I can't speak much for living in other states, but the state government of New York is incredibly slow and unresponsive at best, and at worst purposefully designed to be be a labyrinth with as many blockers as possible to reach someone. I can't imagine being part of an older generation and not as tech-savvy trying to receive help over the phone or online, whether it's from contacting unemployment, business licenses, the council, etc. They make it next to impossible (just look online about trying to get a human on the phone, if you just kept calling and didn't know to seek outside help from people who already have figured it out, you could literally never end up contacting someone). The fact that they tax so aggressively and I've paid so much over the last several years living here really pisses me off. If you do need NY's state government help they are not there for you, and they don't care about you. But they'll gladly keep taking your money.

jimmaswell 5y ago
I grew up here and I agree. I lived elsewhere for a while and it was amazing having something approaching freedom for once, no crazy gun laws and taxes and even the DMV was better - no crazy long forms with redundant/unnecessary information, just put some stuff in a website then walk in with your documents. No unnecessary inspection and other stickers cluttering up the windshield either. Last state didn't even make me mail the plates back like NY would so I got to keep them as a memento. NY is additionally the only or almost only place left to not allow those little gas pump flaps that keep them on when you walk away. I unfortunately had to move back for a family issue but I can't wait to get out again. I think next time I might get some nice land in Wyoming, about as opposite NY as you can get.

TravisHusky 5y ago

This sounds like something out of a Franz Kafka story.

rafale 5y ago

This is what I call soft tyranny.

mattzito 5y ago

Terrible that this guy has to go through this - there's a lot of terrible city agencies, and I've heard general horror stories about the DCA for years. That being said, at this point throwing your hands up and saying "I don't know what to do, help me youtube" is the wrong way to handle this. I was going to make the suggestion about a lawyer, then I saw another poster had done so. The other route to go here is to reach out to your city council member. In NYC, there are enough city council members that they will respond to your request and someone will get back to you. They can make things happen, especially as it pertains to ridiculous bureaucracy. In NYC, we also have a public advocate, whose job is literally to help smooth over disconnects between the public and nyc government agencies. They have a form right on their website where you can request help. Either of these approaches (or both!) would be more productive than complaining on youtube.

robocat 5y ago
> youtube" is the wrong way to handle this It worked: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=27813338 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=27813338

notananthem 5y ago

Having worked in public sector, its laughable you blame "the government," how big it is, how corrupt etc things are. The problem is your government is just your neighbors making 25% or less of your tech salary, who have very complex rules and processes they have to follow, and it takes a lot of effort to make those more efficient. No, because things are inefficient, it is absolutely not an invitation for every shthead to offer their two cents on how to fix it. That's literally what public employees spend most of their day doing, trying to get private employees they interact with to fck off and stop "explaining" how they'd fix things. What do you do in situations like this? Well, seeing as public employees aren't paid to watch youtube videos, you surely won't get any response via youtube viral videos. You will get people hating on underpaid public employees more, yes. You could escalate and send certified mail, have an attorney make contact, etc. You'd be surprised to know, there isn't someone sitting on the other end trying to make things worse for you. Its just your underpaid neighbor. If you're a psychotic libertarian who is just screaming at this reply, yes, please, move somewhere with less regulation to make some sort of point, we'd all love you to move.

nicky0 5y ago
The real question is why is a government license needed to operate a business at all?
KingMachiavelli 5y ago
If the government can't find people to implement/understand or automate the complex set of rules then it shouldn't make the rules. His channel is popular enough and NY is big enough there is a decent chance that someone watching will know someone who works in some government role in NY.

scrose 5y ago

As someone whose gotten pretty involved in advocacy work in the city, this is the sad chain of events that I can imagine might work(Probably not within 30days though): 1. Contact the local community board where the business is and try and speak during public hours during a meeting. Let them know the situation, point out how badly it's impacting business and see if they can reach out to their contacts to get a direct contact. Attendance and representation at these meetings skews heavily towards older wealthier people, so they likely have much more experience working within the system. 2. NYPD reps usually show up at CB meetings. After you speak, talk to one of the NYPD reps and get their info in front of everyone. If you go directly to the precinct there's practically a 0% chance anything productive will happen(especially because you can't legally record anything in a precinct anymore), but the reps they send to CB meetings have to look like they're doing something and will likely give you a card with their personal email and phone number. If you send an email to them about the situation, you'll have another form of documentation to put up, even if they do nothing to help directly. 3. Contact your local councilmember's office via phone. YMMV, but I was very surprised how receptive mine was to complaints I had and how quickly they were able to get some situations resolved after a few emails.

metalliqaz 5y ago
why would NYPD have anything to do with it?
- scrose 5y ago
  They are typically the main group of people who enforce laws in NYC, and operating a business without a license sounds like something they’d come in quick to shutdown. They were also the ones who originally came to his place to handle a separate ‘incident’ that he was fined for that he discussed for several minutes in his video. So instead of waiting for them to come by and find an excuse to shut him down or fine him again, it’s better to have written communication with the precinct captain to fall back on that explains his case.
r00fus 5y ago
Seems like #3 is the only real timely approach. I have reached out to my representative (either local or federal) and have gotten meaningful responses and in several cases, they took action that successfully helped to resolve the issue (in one case, someone held in border detention, in the other case a local french preschool that was in threat of going out of business due to some fire code misunderstanding). It's not a sure thing but it's has a good likelihood of results.

robfig 5y ago

I have a similar (but much less severe) situation -- need to change my car registration, but my NY State online account has been locked "for security". Calling the phone number says "please use the online portal", but has an option to continue to wait for an agent. However, there is no queue, just a message that says there are high volumes of calls and try your call again. I called at various times over a couple weeks until giving up and just driving with an incorrect registration. Not ideal, tbh. And don't get me started on the local USPS.

jimmaswell 5y ago
Can't you just make a DMV appointment?

sandworm101 5y ago

I've been following Rossmann's videos on NYC commercial real estate. It is just shocking to see how many vacant commercial properties there are on every block. His street-level videos are, imho, more telling than any professional market analysis.

failwhaleshark 5y ago
It's not lying...

dcolkitt 5y ago

What’s frustrating about this is how indifferent people are to these institutional failures. They’ll just shrug their shoulders and say “sounds like a problem for the fat cats that run companies”. The vast bulk of civilization runs on business. Unless you’re content with North Korean living standards you need to make it possible for people to start, run and grow businesses. A society that fails on this point is just as fucked as one that can’t keep clean drinking water flowing or achieve basic literacy.

ehutch79 5y ago

This all really sounds like a lawyer needs to be involved

gandalfian 5y ago

YouTube comments suggest people have now got in touch with him and basically fixed it. So well done him for kicking up a fuss if no way to run a system...

dlsa 5y ago

The frustrating part of this type of saga is that nothing will improve from this. It's very likely its not even due to lack of resources. I'd be fascinated to see a journalist's investigation into why this took Louis needing to go to the internet for something essentially quite trivial. And yes, granting licenses should be regular, boring, routine paperwork.

srtjstjsj 5y ago

Can we get non clickbait title?

COGlory 5y ago

LBRY mirror: https://lbry.tv/@rossmanngroup:a/my-business-might-have-32-days-before:d https://lbry.tv/@rossmanngroup:a/my-business-might-have-32-d...

ajoseps 5y ago

Rossman posted an update indicating the issue got resolved: https://youtu.be/hKSt0RrrtdA https://youtu.be/hKSt0RrrtdA

cwkoss 5y ago

Rossmann got a resolution! He posted an update video an hour ago. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hKSt0RrrtdA https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hKSt0RrrtdA

whalesalad 5y ago

At some point you gotta ask yourself: why am I still in NY?

toomanyrichies 5y ago

Update- Louis Rossmann just released a 2nd video on Youtube saying his situation has been resolved and thanking the people who helped him: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hKSt0RrrtdA https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hKSt0RrrtdA

bfung 5y ago

Lucky for him, he has 1.59mil YouTube followers and the issue was resolved https://youtu.be/hKSt0RrrtdA https://youtu.be/hKSt0RrrtdA As he rightfully says, the process should be the same for other small businesses that don’t have 1.59m YouTube subscribers.

testrun 5y ago

Fixed(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hKSt0RrrtdA https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hKSt0RrrtdA).