Posted on 12/12/2015 9:06:26 AM PST by Olog-hai
In New York City, even sidewalk space is coveted real estate. Street vendors sometimes spend a fortune or languish for years on waiting lists to acquire one of the permits that allow them to sell goods in tightly regulated locations.
But once a year, there's an exception, laid out in an artfully worded city ordinance: During the month of December, anyone may sell "coniferous trees" just about anywhere - no license required.
It's a rare tree-for-all. Peddlers flock in from across North America. Big trucks carrying huge loads of trees arrive in the dead of night. Stands selling coniferous trees (some people, but not the city, call them Christmas trees) sprout everywhere. ...
(Excerpt) Read more at hosted.ap.org ...
Peddlers? Are those ECO-warriors who ride bicycles?
In 1938, Mayor Fiorello La Guardia waged what became known as his “War on Christmas”—an effort to keep mostly immigrant vendors off the streets by forcing them to obtain licenses.
So few were issued that trees vanished, causing an uproar. That’s when the City Council enacted an exception allowing vendors free access to sidewalks once a year to sell Christmas trees, so long as adjoining store owners give their consent and the operation doesn’t block pedestrians. The city later changed the text of the law to apply to coniferous trees, rather than Christmas trees, to avoid the appearance of giving special treatment to one religious group. …
Going back to their pagan roots.
And they wonder why Trump is winning
I live in NYC and just paid a visit to the coniferous tree in Rockefeller Center yesterday. It really is a spectacular coniferous tree. The thing is huge, with probably over a million colored lights. Plus every few minutes some scattered bright flashing white lights come on, then go off after about a minute. Oh well, just a couple more weeks for that holiday at the end of the month.
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