"He sleeps under a bridge, washes in a public bathroom and was panhandling for booze money 11 months ago, but now Larry Moore is the best-dressed shoeshine man in the city. When he gets up from his cardboard mattress, he puts on a coat and tie. It's a reminder of how he has turned things around.
In fact, until last week it looked like Moore was going to have saved enough money to rent a room and get off the street for the first time in six years. But then, in a breathtakingly clueless move, an official for the Department of Public Works told Moore that he has to fork over the money he saved for his first month's rent to purchase a $491 sidewalk vendor permit.
The bureaucrat told Moore that she found out about his business after reading about his success in this paper.
Along Market Street, Moore's supporters are indignant. Nothing happens when mentally ill men wander the street talking to themselves and drunkards pee in the alleys. Yet Moore creates a little business out of thin air, builds up a client base, and the city takes nearly every penny he's earned.
Christine Falvey, spokeswoman for Public Works, said the department's contact with Moore was meant to be 'educational.'
'I guess my gripe is that when the city came by and told him to get his papers in order but couldn't tell him how to do it,' said Travis See, who manages the Custom Shop Clothiers on the corner of Market and New Montgomery. 'This lady couldn't even tell him which building to go to so he could stand in line and waste all day.'
When Moore found the permit application, he got a money order and headed down to the appropriate department to pay. But because he didn't have a valid ID card, they wouldn't take his money. "
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2009/06/04/MNJQ1807UK.DTL
There's a Terry Gilliam movie in here somewhere.
In fact, until last week it looked like Moore was going to have saved enough money to rent a room and get off the street for the first time in six years. But then, in a breathtakingly clueless move, an official for the Department of Public Works told Moore that he has to fork over the money he saved for his first month's rent to purchase a $491 sidewalk vendor permit.
The bureaucrat told Moore that she found out about his business after reading about his success in this paper.
Along Market Street, Moore's supporters are indignant. Nothing happens when mentally ill men wander the street talking to themselves and drunkards pee in the alleys. Yet Moore creates a little business out of thin air, builds up a client base, and the city takes nearly every penny he's earned.
Christine Falvey, spokeswoman for Public Works, said the department's contact with Moore was meant to be 'educational.'
'I guess my gripe is that when the city came by and told him to get his papers in order but couldn't tell him how to do it,' said Travis See, who manages the Custom Shop Clothiers on the corner of Market and New Montgomery. 'This lady couldn't even tell him which building to go to so he could stand in line and waste all day.'
When Moore found the permit application, he got a money order and headed down to the appropriate department to pay. But because he didn't have a valid ID card, they wouldn't take his money. "
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2009/06/04/MNJQ1807UK.DTL
There's a Terry Gilliam movie in here somewhere.
