Pitch
Bring back the sidewalk lemonade stands.
Description
Summary
The rationale for a business license is mainly with regards to food safety, claims the government. However, this hampers the ability of neighbors to sell food to each other. Often times, a person's garden can contain different fruits and vegetables from his or her neighbor.
We can localize the production of food in suburban environments by de-regulating business license requirements and granting exemptions for produce that is produced or sold on private property only. After all, people informally sell things all the time: they hold yard sales and advertise their listings on Craigslist.
Farmers markets are generally local, but some travel from well outside the city to sell their produce and this entails considerable greenhouse gas emissions. Some vendors at local farmers markets sell produce from anywhere between 30 to 300 miles away. In contrast, neighborhood markets would inherently involve ordinary citizens (often, private gardeners getting rid of excess fruit on their yard trees).
A combination of govermental regulatory maneuvers is all that it takes to bring neighborhood markets to fruition.
Category of the action
Reducing consumption
What actions do you propose?
First, allow the exemption for private produce from all levels of the law. This would be the form of a revised statement to who and what things people and businesses may sell.
Second, local cities are to take intiative in setting up the neighborhood markets. They can stipulate the requirements that the owner of the property must directly acquiesce to the sale of the produce from his or her plot of land, or how only a certain section of neighborhood can sell to each other (although this is restrictive and probably unnecessary).
Who will take these actions?
Where will these actions be taken?
Local cities in suburban households.
How much will emissions be reduced or sequestered vs. business as usual levels?
1. Calculated from: business deficit from conventional grocers.
By:
