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Bell, good luck, and I look forward to your opening. Your proposed menu and location should be just what the Middlein family is looking for.
My word of caution is that I took the family to Einsteins for lunch once. Once. The stinky, muttering vagrant was there. And every time I pass by there, there's a bum sitting outside. I haven't been back since.
Posts: 1957 | Location: Posh YMCA District | Registered: June 04, 2003
I'm taking a mulligan on this one. My misspelling/use was at 1:30 a.m. after many games of Halo. Thanks for the grammar/spelling lessons! Glad to see your in a better mood as of late Clam! You had been a bit cranky the past few months.
Seriously Fan, who could H8 Clam? He is such an amazing source of information humor!
Bell, Thank you for all you have done in our community!
My only suggestions:
Avoid mixing your philanthropies with your business. I applaud your efforts with the homeless, but cannot endorse it relative to the vagrants. (See Ted's Post on homeless vs. vagrant) I would give Fans post some though as his is probably very accurate (if you substitute vagrant for homeless in his post.)at representing the thoughts of most parents with small children.
We look forward to your grand opening. The concept sounds like something that our children would truly enjoy.
There is one thing I would like to add. I would caution you to be very careful with how you handle the 'vagrancy' issue from the start. As the saying goes, you don't get more than one chance to make a first impression. It has been my experience that in this town, a business will not succeed if the owners disappoint a large segment of the population early on.
I respect that you want to help people who are down on their luck. But if you welcome those who hang around making your store a psedo-home for the day, you will lose business and probably never gain it back. We have so many choices of where to eat and shop with our kids. Like others who have posted about it, I simply stay away from the shops where I see vagrants hanging out. The 'cuteness' (or culinary excellence) factor does not trump my kids safety.
Maybe you could dedicate a certain amount of your profits and donate them to PADS? Maybe you could hold a fundraiser for PADS after you open? There are only a couple of ways you might satisfy your desire to help, yet still not have it adversely affect your business.
That was an excellent post Coveted. Your post has echoed my feelings.
GEM, a good way to remember how to spell a lot is to think the opposite of a lot is a little. You would never spell a little, alittle so don't apell a lot, alot or allot.
Since you have brought this up, what is the COC's stance on this WILDLY FREAKIN' POPULAR event? They wouldn't be considering pulling out of this, would they?
Posts: 9128 | Location: CLEA | Registered: November 04, 2004
Fan, You hit the nail on the head with your post about bringing kids to B&W. It was well written and much more constructive than Clams repetitive posting. (canned bb speach)
my 12 year old daughter is just starting to "go to town" with her friends. there are a few places she is forbidden to go into...and while i know she and her friends are looking forward to the opening of the B/W snackery i think Bell really needs to be very cautious from the start regarding her policies toward vagrancy (thanks Ted for hitting the nail on the head!) one reason i don't mind her going into Einsteins, no matter who is hanging out there, is what i perceive as the transparent storefront which is very exposed to both duane, main, and the interior of the store. the snackery space does not have that same transparency, and if i sense at all she's not safe it's going to be off limits. I sincerely appreciate your efforts and applaud your life changes since l982, but when it comes to a 12 year old daughter you can certainly see who comes first with me... we look forward to seeing what you've done with "Craig's!"
BB, 70% of PADS clients are mentally ill and/or addicts???? Where did you get that stat? I mean if you're including cigarettes and caffeine in the addict category, it's probably even higher but I think 70% sounds high, assuming you mean true addicts.
Posts: 2251 | Location: Glen Ellyn, IL | Registered: April 04, 2003
Based on my husband's experience in McHenry, I'd say 70% of the entire county is addicted to drugs or alcohol or mentally ill.
But seriously, don't knock yourself out looking for more stats - that's good enough. I asked because it seemed steep but then again, the more I think about it, it's not that suprising. Although, I think we could all agree that people with drug or alcohol addiction are not, by nature, dangerous or even a safety issue.
I'd like to know what percentage of the general population is addicted to drugs or alcohol because of my own experiences with families with these issues as well as my husband's experiences with patients with these issues. He gets drug seekers every single day - sometimes several of them a day - and those are just the ones that he knows are drug seeking.... I'll see what I can dig up regarding the general population.
Posts: 2251 | Location: Glen Ellyn, IL | Registered: April 04, 2003
Bitter, why is it that you keep including this in your list of 'rants' about PADS clients? What is your fear? I know of two GE residents that have HIV from getting blood transfusions. They are both currently healthy, upstanding citizens of our village. Would you like to separate them as we used to do with lepers? Shall we have them wear a patch on their outer clothing so you can cross to the other side of the street when you see them coming? How would you know that these residents are infected? <these are the only two that I know of...how many other Glen Ellyn residents have this disease? How many of our citizens are walking around HIV positive that don't know because they haven't been tested?>
The only way someone could actually contract HIV from someone who is positive is through direct contact through mucous membranes with bodily fluids (i.e. blood & semen). This is something that the medical community found out in the 1980's when they were researching this unfortunate illness that has killed thousands of humans Worldwide. Please, don't spread unnecessary fear about this disease. We have learned a great deal about this disease in the last 20+ years and to have someone include it in a list of rants about 'vagrants' is just plain ignorant, IMO.
I would think the inclusion of HIV is in response to the high rate of drug addictions and the stigma associated with repeated and shared needle use. It does not seem from his previous posts that he is homophobic. GER, maybe you need to relax a little about this.
“just like in real life there's still rules on this team. Unlike real life? Nobody's above the rules on this field." – Coach Eric Taylor
RH, my response has nothing to do with homophobia and I never stated anything in my posting about this being an issue of homophobia. Besides being gay, I also have degrees in Health Administration and Community Health/Health Counseling. This was more based on my education and background as a health educator than my being gay, which you really just 'assumed' was why I was responding in such a fashion. You know what they say about assuming...
Yes, there may be a higher rate of drug addictions/HIV infections within this population of PADS clients. How does this effect whether a person will have any normal, day-to-day contact with such a person, Rob? This is where the ignorance comes in. If you aren't educated about this disease and its transmission, it is ridiculous to include it in a list of rants. It is being used as a belittling or fear factor to support a claim. Lets be honest, that is why it is being used, IMO.
Oh, and just an FYI, I won't 'relax' about this. Again, I thought this was an open discussion. Why should I hold back when I feel passionate about something and maybe can actually add to the discussion? I happen to have a background in this area. If this was concerning an area of the law, we would welcome our group of law professionals to voice what they know.
This message has been edited. Last edited by: GlenEllynRing,
