US small business friendliness survey 2013

[zman63]

Originally Posted by pman

they lowered fees and generally made it easier to open a small brewery a couple years ago and the state is now experiencing a second boom in breweries. i have no doubt that changing the laws would result in an increase in small business. the largest alcohol retailer, total wine , is run by two guys from pa who used to run a beer distributor near harrisvurg. they opened their more ambitious business in ankther state for obvious reasons. dont worry about the culture worry about the laws. did you see my thread on the allegheny inn ?

Yes I did... It seems as though the plan review and permitting has held up this job. The funny thing is don't the inspectors ultimately have the final say? Wouldn't it work better if a third party firm did the plan review and then the city just issued the permit so the inspector could go and do their thing? What are your thoughts?

[pman]

Originally Posted by zman63

Yes I did... It seems as though the plan review and permitting has held up this job. The funny thing is don't the inspectors ultimately have the final say? Wouldn't it work better if a third party firm did the plan review and then the city just issued the permit so the inspector could go and do their thing? What are your thoughts?

yes i think so, not that im an expert. isnt thays the way its done most places?

if you make it easier to rehab a property, more properties will get rehabbed. when they allowed diatilleries to sell direct to the public we started getting more of them

[zman63]

Originally Posted by pman

yes i think so, not that im an expert. isnt thays the way its done most places?

if you make it easier to rehab a property, more properties will get rehabbed. when they allowed diatilleries to sell direct to the public we started getting more of them

Most cities and states the inspector has the final say. It seems as though pittsburgh may be disorganized compared to other places. As this is just from hearing other people speak about it. Although the state of pa sets the example with the building / fire codes and it is very lax and disorganized compared to other surrounding states as I am finding out. After doing some research it appears in West Virginia and Ohio that all fire protection workers and designers must pass a test to be licensed by their respective state fire marshal's office. PA does not appear to have a state fire marshal's office, only a fire commissioner that certifies and trains public safety personnel.

BTW, All I hear is crickets for my original post....

[sskink]

Having started a small business in the area, it wasn't particularly hard. I don't get where the grades are coming from.

As we were a small business on a busy street with metered parking, I believe our greatest challenge relates to the thread here that people don't know how to parallel park :-)