Really? Bad for Business?
I know that the arcane liquor laws imposed by the Montgomery County Department of Liquor Control have made it difficult for smaller establishments to open and serve alcohol. Rumor has it that’s why many of the places in the downtown area are larger chains: they have the legal infrastructure to navigate such obstacles. Whether or not that’s actually true, I’m not sure, but it seems to make sense. Then we get to the other places of business that don’t serve alcohol…
Enter: Our venerable Jeebus Chevron. While I’ve derided its political leanings in the past, I have to say I owe the Chevron station (on Georgia, just south of the beltway) and its staff a debt of gratitude. I had a state car inspection issue (concerning taillights) that had to be resolved quickly. The Shell station across the street wanted me to make an appointment for early the next morning and wait in line for a matter that could be fixed in five minutes. I went to the Chevron station, and they came out, walked around the car, and after a few minutes I had signed paperwork and was on my way. Great service.
But advertising that Montgomery County is bad for business? Is it a political ploy given the heavy left-leaning Council or a legitimate gripe? Both are certainly possible. Ask any developer what a pain in the ass it is to get projects approved (leaving aside problems that organizations like my venerable ESSCA cause) and you may get some similar complaints.
Also, a couple of weeks ago a veil of secrecy was put over the sign (Shroud of Petrol?) with an accompanying message saying “Boycotting BP Stations Just Hurts Local Businesses.” Is this a precursor to a change in affiliation for the gas station? I agree with the sentiment of the message, but what a timing snafu for the shift if that was the case.
In Other News…
The new toy store on Fenton Street has a great selection of video games and other miscellaneous toys, but my daughter and I were both thoroughly creeped out by the Kookys.
Caveat emptor, indeed.
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FWIW, I spoke to a Chevron station owner in Gaithersburg a couple of weeks ago. His story was that Chevron as a whole pulled out of Maryland and left the (former) stations to find new suppliers. The Gaithersburg station is now a “WM Express”.
That sign speaks truth. Ask Northrop Grumman why they didn’t move to Montgomery County, and then ask Leggett why he’s focused instead on luring a Costco to Wheaton by offering to pay Costco $4 million to locate there. It’s this parochial and low-rent “vision” that our current Statist leadership has that is killing our County’s economic development.
Dude, Who is this Jesus Chevron? Does he have papers?
I used to go to the station because I, generally, thought they were good people. Prices are better at other stations, but I liked the fact that the owner was religious even if my own religion would be a different flavor.
However, I no longer go there because it seems to have become so political. Politics I do not support.
The BP statement was just plain stupid. Yeah, it hurts the local BP station owners. That’s the point. I don’t want my money going to BP. I want BP, totally, out of this country. That’s why I boycot them. The fact a local station owner gets hurt might be a good reason to put a new sign in front of the station.
Let’s Boycott Stupidity Instead
We’re a smart, educated nation but let’s face it: the public puts more energy into choosing the next American Idol than addressing our energy addiction.
Boycott laziness. Boycott apathy. Boycott convenient self-delusion. Let’s start by boycotting the moronic BP Boycott, and stop using phony environmental activism to attack innocent business owners.
BTW, BP is mostly U.S. owned.
MoCo is anti-business. They prefer to be only a bedroom to DC. They drove the Cinema Drafthouse in Wheaton out of business over rediculous petty items. It is AMAZING that Discovery and the changes to Silver Spring happened at all. There is plenty of changes to be made. Wake up MoCo!
Oh, I assumed that Chevron got tired of those psycho owners using their billboard that way and cut ties.
Whether BP is mostly US owned is unimportant to me. Call it “phony environmental activism” if you want, but I’m not giving my money to a company that created one of the biggest environmental disasters this world has ever seen.
Chevron is pulling out of many areas – DC, MD, DE, etc. – on the retail side of things but still supplying.
Here is an article that I read about it – http://tiny.cc/lvyx7
There was a rant posted inside their store about why MoCo is bad for business. It revolves around the store needing to submit payment by Sept. 2010 for a “special exception license” from the county to run their U-Haul rental service. The license was going to cost them $8,000 so they decided to cut the U-Haul rental business out of the store. They said that the only reason they even needed to run a side business in the first place was to make up for the cost of all the county & state taxes.
People must have reacted negatively to their sign because they eventually altered it to read: Montgomery County GOVT is bad for business.
By the way, their latest ridiculous message that is now posted for the start of school is as follows:
BACK 2 SCHOOL MATH
JESUS + NOTHING = ETERNITY WITH GOD