City of Kirkland is a joke when it comes to business licenses | Letter

Published 3:22 pm Wednesday, September 10, 2014

I recently received a letter from the city of Kirkland informing me I need to obtain a business license because I keep myself busy in the evenings making stuff. Some of my friends like my stuff, so I found a place that will sell it for me. In July, I made a whopping $10. The business license is $50. You do the math.

I am a 68-year-old woman who likes to make stuff. But I have to promise that I won’t have more than two people at a time in my home, or more than three pick-ups or deliveries a day. Last time I checked the Post Office makes one delivery a day, and I never have any pick-ups. And I can’t have any more than two cars at a time in my driveway, which by the way I pay taxes on already. No hazardous waste, so I guess my cat’s litter box has to go. Guess I can’t have any dinner parties. Oh, no live music so no karaoke with the one person I can have over either.

I am also unemployed and living on food stamps and Medicare. The city’s portion of the 10 bucks I might make a month selling one pair of earrings will make an enormous difference in their budget. Tell me, how will those funds be disbursed? Will I have any say? Or will you just do what you darn well please with it?

I hope the city is pleased with itself. Did the person who grabbed my card at the Trading Post in Totem Lake buy any of my items or did they just snatch up my card and think: “Aha! I caught another one! KA-ching.”

It is a sad state of affairs indeed when a person can’t sit in their own home and make stuff without the city demanding they have a license. If I do have anyone over for dinner and I serve wine, will I need a liquor and food handler’s license as well?

Thanks, city of Kirkland. Thanks a lot. It’s been real.

Hilary Ohall, Kirkland