Conquer Club

After his father retired in the late 1980s, Nick Benetatos has owned and operated Tam’s Burgers in South Central Los Angeles. And although his shop has withstood everything from recession to the infamous 1992 L.A. riots –

– it was no match for zoning board officials.

“When the markets were burned down, liquor stores were burned down, everything was burned down, people had nowhere to go, they came to us. We were handing out loaves of bread for free,” Benetatos told ReasonTV.

“We have much love for the community. And the community obviously has much love for us,” he adds.

Sadly, though, Tam’s Burgers will close permanently next year because city officials have succeeded in regulating it out of existence:

The trouble between Benetatos and the city began after authorities decided his restaurant was a contributing factor to the area’s crime rate.

No, really.

“It has a nexus and a connection to a disproportionate amount of criminal activity,” Detective Eric Moore, head of LAPD’s Nuisance Abatement unit, told Reason.

But it’s not as if Benetatos didn’t ​try ​to work with the city.

The police asked him to remove payphones, so he removed the payphones. Then they asked him to remove tables for outdoor seating, and he removed the tables for outdoor seating (it resulted in a 15 percent drop in revenues). Then the city’s zoning board ordered him to comply with 22 separate conditions, including hiring a full-time security guard, putting up fences, and installing a security camera system.

Needless to say, Benetatos couldn’t afford to keep up with the city’s demands.

“The LAPD wants to control my business and run it in their view of how it should be run, and I’m trying to run it in the view that I’ve been here for 30 years and know how it should be run, and I’m successful,” he said.

Benetatos appealed the zoning board’s conditions at a recent city council meeting. They turned him down.

And that is how L.A. officials regulated a long-standing neighborhood burger joint out of existence.

_sabotage_ wrote:Any idea what will be replacing it?

Guess: Liquor store, gun shop or big chain restaurant.

Night Strike wrote:

After his father retired in the late 1980s, Nick Benetatos has owned and operated Tam’s Burgers in South Central Los Angeles. And although his shop has withstood everything from recession to the infamous 1992 L.A. riots –

– it was no match for zoning board officials.

“When the markets were burned down, liquor stores were burned down, everything was burned down, people had nowhere to go, they came to us. We were handing out loaves of bread for free,” Benetatos told ReasonTV.

“We have much love for the community. And the community obviously has much love for us,” he adds.

Sadly, though, Tam’s Burgers will close permanently next year because city officials have succeeded in regulating it out of existence:

The trouble between Benetatos and the city began after authorities decided his restaurant was a contributing factor to the area’s crime rate.

No, really.

“It has a nexus and a connection to a disproportionate amount of criminal activity,” Detective Eric Moore, head of LAPD’s Nuisance Abatement unit, told Reason.

But it’s not as if Benetatos didn’t ​try ​to work with the city.

The police asked him to remove payphones, so he removed the payphones. Then they asked him to remove tables for outdoor seating, and he removed the tables for outdoor seating (it resulted in a 15 percent drop in revenues). Then the city’s zoning board ordered him to comply with 22 separate conditions, including hiring a full-time security guard, putting up fences, and installing a security camera system.

Needless to say, Benetatos couldn’t afford to keep up with the city’s demands.

“The LAPD wants to control my business and run it in their view of how it should be run, and I’m trying to run it in the view that I’ve been here for 30 years and know how it should be run, and I’m successful,” he said.

Benetatos appealed the zoning board’s conditions at a recent city council meeting. They turned him down.

And that is how L.A. officials regulated a long-standing neighborhood burger joint out of existence.

http://www.theblaze.com/stories/public-nuisance-youll-never-believe-why-this-l-a-entrepreneur-was-forced-to-close-his-shop/

AAFitz wrote:

Night Strike wrote:

After his father retired in the late 1980s, Nick Benetatos has owned and operated Tam’s Burgers in South Central Los Angeles. And although his shop has withstood everything from recession to the infamous 1992 L.A. riots –

– it was no match for zoning board officials.

“When the markets were burned down, liquor stores were burned down, everything was burned down, people had nowhere to go, they came to us. We were handing out loaves of bread for free,” Benetatos told ReasonTV.

“We have much love for the community. And the community obviously has much love for us,” he adds.

Sadly, though, Tam’s Burgers will close permanently next year because city officials have succeeded in regulating it out of existence:

The trouble between Benetatos and the city began after authorities decided his restaurant was a contributing factor to the area’s crime rate.

No, really.

“It has a nexus and a connection to a disproportionate amount of criminal activity,” Detective Eric Moore, head of LAPD’s Nuisance Abatement unit, told Reason.

But it’s not as if Benetatos didn’t ​try ​to work with the city.

The police asked him to remove payphones, so he removed the payphones. Then they asked him to remove tables for outdoor seating, and he removed the tables for outdoor seating (it resulted in a 15 percent drop in revenues). Then the city’s zoning board ordered him to comply with 22 separate conditions, including hiring a full-time security guard, putting up fences, and installing a security camera system.

Needless to say, Benetatos couldn’t afford to keep up with the city’s demands.

“The LAPD wants to control my business and run it in their view of how it should be run, and I’m trying to run it in the view that I’ve been here for 30 years and know how it should be run, and I’m successful,” he said.

Benetatos appealed the zoning board’s conditions at a recent city council meeting. They turned him down.

And that is how L.A. officials regulated a long-standing neighborhood burger joint out of existence.

http://www.theblaze.com/stories/public-nuisance-youll-never-believe-why-this-l-a-entrepreneur-was-forced-to-close-his-shop/

Little companies getting pushed out by government often have the backing of multinational corporations, if not directly, then through PACs and other bullshit donations made possible by your GOP.

I personally hope he has grounds for a lawsuit, and possibly does, if they treated other, similar businesses differently.

Its only speculative to suggest other motives, but it definitely wouldn't be the first time.

PLAYER57832 wrote:

AAFitz wrote:

Night Strike wrote:

After his father retired in the late 1980s, Nick Benetatos has owned and operated Tam’s Burgers in South Central Los Angeles. And although his shop has withstood everything from recession to the infamous 1992 L.A. riots –

– it was no match for zoning board officials.

“When the markets were burned down, liquor stores were burned down, everything was burned down, people had nowhere to go, they came to us. We were handing out loaves of bread for free,” Benetatos told ReasonTV.

“We have much love for the community. And the community obviously has much love for us,” he adds.

Sadly, though, Tam’s Burgers will close permanently next year because city officials have succeeded in regulating it out of existence:

The trouble between Benetatos and the city began after authorities decided his restaurant was a contributing factor to the area’s crime rate.

No, really.

“It has a nexus and a connection to a disproportionate amount of criminal activity,” Detective Eric Moore, head of LAPD’s Nuisance Abatement unit, told Reason.

But it’s not as if Benetatos didn’t ​try ​to work with the city.

The police asked him to remove payphones, so he removed the payphones. Then they asked him to remove tables for outdoor seating, and he removed the tables for outdoor seating (it resulted in a 15 percent drop in revenues). Then the city’s zoning board ordered him to comply with 22 separate conditions, including hiring a full-time security guard, putting up fences, and installing a security camera system.

Needless to say, Benetatos couldn’t afford to keep up with the city’s demands.

“The LAPD wants to control my business and run it in their view of how it should be run, and I’m trying to run it in the view that I’ve been here for 30 years and know how it should be run, and I’m successful,” he said.

Benetatos appealed the zoning board’s conditions at a recent city council meeting. They turned him down.

And that is how L.A. officials regulated a long-standing neighborhood burger joint out of existence.

http://www.theblaze.com/stories/public-nuisance-youll-never-believe-why-this-l-a-entrepreneur-was-forced-to-close-his-shop/

Little companies getting pushed out by government often have the backing of multinational corporations, if not directly, then through PACs and other bullshit donations made possible by your GOP.

I personally hope he has grounds for a lawsuit, and possibly does, if they treated other, similar businesses differently.

Its only speculative to suggest other motives, but it definitely wouldn't be the first time.

Exactly, somehow I doubt similar requirements have been imposed on McDonald's.

But, also.. I wonder if there isn't more to this story than is posted.



A Tad suspicious. I went through 4 pages of listings, got lots of reviews, a lot saying that the food was good, but service terrible. (that might provide a big hint as to why it closed, by-the-way)

I found only 2 articles. The above article, repeated several times, and one on this Reason.com -- a decidedly not just liberaterian, but anti governement site.
http://reason.com/reasontv/2012/12/20/t ... lated-a-bu


As I said above, reading the reviews gave me a hint that there might well have been more to this closing than described. Three stars and a a lot of comments along the lines of "good tasting food, but very greasy", "very poor service", "would not eat there if it weren't convenient", etc., lead me to think these are why the store closed.

2dimes wrote:Worst part? He probably can't afford to relocate.

john9blue wrote:are you fucking serious?

you realize people are far more likely to go leave a review if they had a bad time, right? vocal minority? you don't understand human psychology.

john9blue wrote:i think you were being serious. i would not put it above you to try and make excuses for blatantly unfair liberal tyranny based on HOW GOOD THE FOOD WAS AT THE RESTAURANT.

but hey, if i put it in those terms it sounds stupid, and you can pretend to be kidding so you don't have to take responsibility for your actions.

nothing you people do surprises me anymore. idiocy is everywhere.

john9blue wrote:i've seen far too many people unable to admit they were wrong write off their previous posts as a "joke"

forgive me if i'm not so quick to apologize for thinking you were being serious.

2dimes wrote:Worst part? He probably can't afford to relocate.