If you caught the post below on how former Obama campaign manager Steve Hildebrand is complaining that he’s getting too much business from homeless people, and that “This is YOUR coffeehouse – NOT THEIRS.” KELOland took the bait on the Hildebrand presser this morning, which revealed little to nothing other than conspiracy minded complaints from the coffee shop owner.
(Click on picture to go to KELO Article).
However, KELO did a great job in interviewing one of the area’s homeless people, Lamont Burks, who was there to eat and drink coffee. Lamont noted, in reference to his patronizing Josiah’s that “You should be able to go anywhere you want, and drink coffee,” and that they were not there because an organized effort, as opposed to being close to three homeless shelters in the immediate area, as the homeless people don’t have cars and have to walk.
Apparently, you have to have to be a hipster with a full beard, skinny jeans and a Mac Book to be the right kind of people for it to be “your coffeehouse.”
Sounds like the only people being paid are Hickey and Hildebrand by the banks and credit unions to put their competition out of business. Obviously the two Steve’s don’t care about poor people.
Pat,
I’ve got to agree with the Steves on this one (which is a rarity for me). This seems like something sketchy is going on. The Sioux Falls homeless population doesn’t just start showing up at a place like Josiah’s everyday.
Quite frankly I’m disappointed in you for dismissing this out of hand because it’s coming from Hildebrand.
I’ll have to go to Josiah’s next week to check this out. Wonder if this will all backfire against the Payday Loan Industry when it’s time to vote.
That guy said he’s been going there everyday for a month? Why not save a buck and have coffee once a while at one of the shelters? This doesn’t pass the smell test. Pat you really think all these homeless just started randomly showing up? Most homeless do t go spending what little money they have at a place like Josiah’s.
I go to Subway 2 or 3 times a week and see homeless people sitting there for hours and no one bothers them. It isn’t against the law for homeless people to frequent a business. Sounds like Hildebrand wants just upper class people to sit in his shop.
Oooo this is getting messy – and it’s only July!! 4 months yet of garbage on this issue. I don’t like predatory lending from the payday loan places, I also don’t like banks and credit unions stifling free enterprise. And WE KNOW those “homeless” don’t just go to Josiah’s without being paid. They’d rather take $5-10 and spend it on new socks instead of jacked up coffee and scones. Me thinks the payday loan places are in trouble. Wait til the they send out the enforcers/”campaigners”
I have no doubt that this is a set up by pay day loan companies. Part of me thinks it is sort of funny to see a liberal get the treatment from opposition. However, I do not like people disrupting business when they are conservative and it should not happen to liberal business people.
Hildy is trying to put them out of businesses. Turn about is fair play.
I prefer Caribou.
I’m with you Dave… That Caribou is good stuff!
It appears the same people fighting this IM are also fighting Government intervention in the marketplace though the rules of engagement in borrowing big money have easily been addressed while the bottom feeders totally left alone. Right is right and wrong is wrong equally on both sides of the track; dammit.
This a joke right?
A baker has to make a cake for a wedding but a businessman can complain about homeless person from buying a cup of coffee in his business?
Chick-fil-a can be harassed for standing up for their religious principles but a coffee shop is praised for saying homeless people shouldn’t have coffee in their coffee shop?
Sometimes you just can’t make up this sh#t.
No business should be harassed whether it’s the pizza place in Indianapolis where the owners had to go into hiding and shut down their business to exploiting homeless and paying them to camp out and disrupt business.
I am finding a great deal of humor in this matter. Really, quite a bit of humor. There are two interrelated things which I find interesting though.
The first is the hypocrisy in the coffee shop owner’s complaints about people who might be using what appear to be legal means to harass him. If what he says is true, that the title loans people are harassing him, it appears to be with legal means. I’ve seen no allegation that anything illegal has been done. But isn’t the coffee shop owner harassing the small loans people with his actions? I just don’t think that guy can have it both ways. He wants to harass and restrict the title loans but be free of them doing the same thing? That don’t fly.
Which brings me to my second point. The seeming complicity of certainly KELO and to a lesser degree the Argus Leader in the complaints of the coffee shop owner. One would think that KELO was owned by the coffee shop. I don’t recall the KELO team going after any story with the one sided vigor displayed yesterday. Never seen that from them although I confess I rarely watch KELO. Has anyone else seen that kind of action from them? I have not.
As I said, I’m finding humor, and a lot of it, in the whole situation. KELO and the Argus act as if someone is threatening the existence of the coffee shop. Why is that?
More idiocy from the business community. You can even see the tactic is clearly not passing the smell test in this echo chamber. Out in the real world, it probably has far more valuable than any amount of money the proponents of the initiative could have spent.
People in the real world don’t like this type of tactic, although it is amusing to many observers in here.
The chatter on Facebook and other Social Media has been overwhelmingly against the tactic of sending these people to Josiah’s. So we will see a lot more people who were otherwise sitting on the sidelines getting involved. Well, it’s the benevolent Mr. Aycox who is driving the swell against his own industry.
Mr. Aycox probably torpedoed his chances of winning this election. And anyone who got his start with seed money from Meyer Lansky connected associates probably should not be allowed to be a legal loan shark in SD