A hot dog vendor.
Posted on 08/17/2009 3:47:20 PM PDT by JoeProBono
How can New York City hot dog vendors afford a monthly rent of $53,558? A hot dog vendor was kicked from the curb outside New York City's Metropolitan Museum of Art last week for failure to pay his monthly rent—of $53,558.
Pasang Sherpa was under contract to pay the Parks Department $362,201 a year for a stand on the south side of the Met's entrance and $280,500 for another on the north side. That's a lot of hot dogs. With rent astronomically high, how much do New York City hot dog vendors actually make? It's hard to say.
Neither the Parks Department nor the Health Department (which oversees food sales outside parks) requires vendors to report income. They don't bother calculating expected sales, either—in part because rent is set at auction (with vendors battling it out) rather than by the city. What we do know is that even though Sherpa, a rookie, got in over his head, vendors have long been willing to pay hundreds of thousands of dollars to push $2 dogs outside the Met.
(The museum attracts 5 million visitors a year, and the hot dog stands are the only food outlets for blocks.) Last year's occupant paid $415,000 a year for the Met stands plus at least $25,000 for supplies and labor, and didn't go under—so we can assume he brought in significantly more than $440,000.
(Excerpt) Read more at slate.com ...
A hot dog vendor.
That is outrageous...........the govt. is out of control.
What?
This is one time the government is actually doing something smart.
The vendors set the price in an open auction.
This is MUCH better then giving the place to some politically connected A@#$@^$ for $200/month.
If only the feds could get open market money for (just picking one example) the water they deliver to central and southern California we would all be much better off (excepting the farmers currently enjoying subsidized water).
Farmers outside CA would like to be able to compete but can't as they usually depend on rain for water (which fails some % of years, driving up their costs) while the CA farmers are guaranteed water at below the cost of delivery.
Read the story. Rates are set at auction, not by the government. Sounds like pure capitalism to me. But now the story's out I'll bet vendors hire armed guards and Brinks trucks to haul their daily receipts to the bank. This story is a "Calling all robbers!" alarm.
Better be the best hot dog ever.
That’s a ridiculous amount of money.
-PJ
Um...That’s the Metropolitan Museum of Art. The Metropolitan Opera is at Lincoln Center. You’re 10 blocks south and on the wrong side if the park!
HAHAHAHAHA!
Whatever you say........legalized mafioso. Guy wheels his cart to a spot on a street and pays his protection money. This time its to the govt. instead of the mafia.......
Works for me........NOT!
We have a wiener!
Personally, I think we should Monica Lewinsky how much wieners should be worth - she’s the world expert after all. But that’s just me.
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