The City of Albuquerque has filed a multi-pronged lawsuit against the embattled Route 66 Malt Shop, according to several media outlets Friday.
Not only is the city suing the restaurant for not paying a voter-approved minimum wage to a worker, but it seeks more damages and a restraining order against the eatery due to alleged threats and retaliation against that whistleblowing employee, reported KOB-TV, which filed this report:
The lawsuit can be read here.
Earlier, restaurant owner Eric Szeman said he simply wasn’t going to pay the new city minimum wage. Now, according to a representative, Szeman was “confused” about the new wage law.
Consultant Josephine Martinez de Nuñez said she’s helping the owner understand it and that he is now paying the new wage, which made the lawsuit unexpected.
De Nunez said she’s tried to negotiate with the city on behalf of the restaurant. However, the city attorney told KRQE that he won’t work with her because she’s not an attorney. And KOB said the offers to pay the employee his back wages were described as “nominal” by the city.
I initially was reluctant to remove the Route 66 Malt Shop from the Dining list for Route 66 News last week, but felt the restaurant’s apparent bad behavior left me with no choice.
Now, to hear Szeman and his consultant trying to sell a B.S. line that he was “confused” about the law, I feel vindicated about that decision. Szeman wasn’t confused at all. He didn’t follow the law because the city didn’t have an enforcement mechanism, and thought he could get away with it.
Szeman complained loudly two weeks ago that he couldn’t meet payroll with the new minimum wage. But because he flouted the law, he’s almost certainly going to spend even more money on attorney’s fees, back pay, and damages. And that doesn’t factor in the decreases in revenue from protests and boycotts against the Route 66 Malt Shop.
One could argue one way or the other whether Szeman is a jerk. But there seems little doubt his shortsightedness makes him a bad businessman.
UPDATE 3/3/2013: I finally had the chance this weekend to read the actual lawsuit. A person or two has asked me to reconsider the removal of the Route 66 Malt Shop from the Restaurant listings. Those folks should read the document; it’s very damning against the restaurant.
One section sums it up: “Defendants have engaged in a pattern of illegal and wrongful actions” against the whistleblowing employee.
As an old labor guy and shop steward I can certify this kind of stuff goes on a lot. Small business owners are usually the worst, always claiming they haven’t got the dough, etc. I can tell at first blush this guy only agreed to do anything, as you noted, after the city placed enforcement in the new ordinance.
It’s hard to stand up for your rights on a job, even moreso today with the hard anti-labor (worker) environment out there, and the Republicans all-out war on organized labor unions. The employee here should be admired for courage and guts. It’s not easy working in a hostile place.
The owner, sadly, is fairly typical. He just got caught and nailed to the wall in public. The usual course of such actions is the worker getting warned then fired (by law you must warn someone your going to fire them for cause). So, it’s good the worker got back pay and is still working there (if that’s the case).
Congrats to Albuquerque for taking the issue head on and raising the wage. It’s still too low, and business owners can at least take that into account. I’ve always thought if a business is operating at such a slim margin that it can’t afford to pay workers a decent wage, then it probably shouldn’t be in business. If that’s true then the owner can always scale down the operation to a level he can afford without hurting an innocent worker just trying to earn a living.
As a law abiding small business owner, I get a small number of people offering to pay cash with (wink wink) no receipt needed. They aren’t asking for a discount, they are just offering me a way to make a little more. I wait till they’re gone, fill out a receipt and throw the original away.
btw, everyone (seriously, everyone) who has offered me this option, has been a Republican. Small town. Easy to know party affiliations. And I make no other comment than that.
Very good reporting, a least up to the point of a “personal thought” name calling. ie: “Jerk”. Of course, it took this ol’ landrunner quite some time (the best of a decade) to persuade Eric Szeman to pay the funds owed for an unpaid Route 66 PostmarkArt consignment order of prints, but at least he eventually made good by sending payment in full. Which is more than I can say for Cool Springs Camp and the Power House Museum (both Arizona roadside locations whom employed the same dishonest employee who worked [works] at both locations) whom never paid a red cent on their unpaid Route 66 PostmarkArt print consignment invoices, which left this ol’ landrunner high and dry and $2K missing from pocket.
If you think I called Szeman a jerk, you didn’t read the story closely.
Bla, Bla, Bla Sal – thanks for perpetuating the negative and divisive politics of our torn up nation and road today, as well as exemplifying why nothing in politics seems to work or get done. Politics should have no part on our road – PERIOD! Your generalized comments about ALL republicans is both untrue and unwanted. Furthermore I happen to know MANY extremely small businesses pay far more than their local market’s wages or even their local governments wages, again making your opinions baseless and untrue. I could just as easily tell you all the horror stories of unions, bully tactics and driving all other competition out of their areas like a giant Walmart, but I won’t, because again politics should have no part on our road and do more to harm it than help it. This malt shop was a very isolated circumstance, especially on Route 66, and is far better left ignored, than stirring up any negative energy about Route 66 or politics. What is it with you sick people trying to keep our country and road divided with politics, instead of uniting behind a common cause and leaving politics in the dust. Do you want to help save and grow the road, or destroy the last 20 years worth of hard work and accomplishments, all for the sake of being able to say whether the left or the right was better than the other? I also know some so called republicans that contribute greatly across the road, are excellent small business citizens, never pick political sides, but are so sick and disgusted with this left side of the road vs. right side of the road political garbage, that they’re ready to leave it all and go into full retirement.
From little small town government politics to Washington, no one seems to either be able to get along nor want to in any way, so nothing seems to work or get done. ALL news media outlets, now even as small as Route 66 News, seem to only perpetuate all the negative politics, stir up the divisiveness, ill will and hatred, instead of leaving politics better left alone. It’s hard enough for plain old normal non-political folk to even get by today, without all the added negativity and non-functioning politics. This story was about an individual business and isolated circumstance, but has turned into nothing more than poisoned politics…
If you’re that concerned about the negative influence of politics, RT, why don’t you leave the political groups you’re a fan of on Facebook?
Wait. Some things should be ignored? RT, are you honestly suggesting that Ron should ignore the fact that a business owner A.) willfully and knowingly flouted a voter-approved law; B.) announced publicly his intent to do so; C.) retaliated against an employee for reporting illegal activity (noting that said retaliation including threats with a machete and a baseball bat); and then D.) tried to claim he was just confused after the city busted him on it? He gets a free pass because he’s on Route 66? NAWL.
I don’t care who you are, where you are, or what you own; anybody stupid enough to come at me with a machete is going to have MUCH bigger problems than a little bad press.
Personally, I wouldn’t feel comfortable eating in a place run by a manager who is so batsnot crazy that he thinks it’s OK to threaten the help with a machete, but maybe that’s just me.
NO Emily – the problem is allowing people like Sal to leave comments trying to bash republicans and small business owners on the road with their political statements, or Ron’s previous statements about FOX News or polls on the Romney campaign! That’s crossing the line, has nothing to do with topic at hand, and seems to now be some kind of continuing trend on Route 66 News. No one has a problem with an article about someone not fairly practicing good business on the route, but then people get completely off track and make statements about other “GOOD” people that work hard, play fair and follow the rules, misleading other into believing their statements are true, and Ron either says nothing about it, does nothing about or even takes their side or joins in on the bashing of a different political opinion. Reporting the topic at hand is one thing, bringing politics onto the road and dividing between the left, middle and right is a whole other issue. It should not be allowed, you should not be participating in it, and you should definitely be setting a better example than that. I’ve had my fair share of counseling by the man myself, but I NEVER see him chime in and stop the left from ranting and raving off topic for politics sake??? Hmmm, wonder why…
You know why I don’t post news articles about businesses that work hard, play fair, and follow the rules? Because it’s not newsworthy when people do what they’re SUPPOSED to do.
RT: Ron doesn’t delete comments unless they are threatening, libelous, or obvious spam. Thus, in answer to your question, you see more liberal-leaning comments here for one of three reasons:
1.) Ron has more liberal readers than conservative readers;
2.) Ron’s liberal readers are noisier than his conservative readers; or
3.) Ron’s liberal readers catch your eye more than his conservative readers because their views irritate you.
Ron has, on occasion, tried to reel you in when you were about to embarrass yourself. That’s because he is a better friend than I am. When he’s shared your offensive or obnoxious remarks with me and asked for my thoughts on how he should respond, my answer has usually been, “Meh. You’ve coddled him enough. Let him fall on his arse this time.” Apparently my instincts were right; Ron sleeps a lot better than I do, but I’m not the one pulling a knife out of my back this evening.
Remarkably, despite the fact that you have falsely accused him of illegal activity and attacked his integrity both as a journalist and as a human being, Ron has allowed you to continue to comment on his page, which basically refutes your entire argument. If he were in the habit of promoting liberals and persecuting conservatives, your hysterical ad hominem attacks would have landed you in the spam folder a long time ago.
It is unfortunate that you are so blinded by your own passion for a particular ideology that you are willing to throw away friendships — particularly friendships with people who have gone out of their way to support and promote you in the past — to satisfy your quixotic need to feel like a white knight defending a just and righteous cause, but if that’s what it takes to make you feel good about yourself, I hope it works out for you.
Emily
Neither of you have written anything that has anything to do with what I’ve commented about all along, instead you have admittedly cyber-stalked someone’s personal facebook page that you were supposedly a friend on, made baseless and false accusations about them, kept completely off the subject the entire time to preserve your own personal political beliefs, and used your public blog platform to personally attack a reader and destroy a friendship. With friends like yourselves, who needs enemies. I know you’ll rebuttal to hear yourselves speak and get the last word in, but I think we’re now done…
WOW – unbelievable! Now because of complete childishness and a difference of opinion, you’ve even taken me off your site, all the while we linked yours and promoted it. This has nothing to do with business, you’ve gone way off the deep end, and purposely and intentionally are trying to harm a good business on the road, just because of your personal politics. I guess this means we can no longer support your sites either, because you can’t even remain professional on a business level. It really is all about you and your opinions…
RT: You persist in accusing my husband of “stalking” — which is illegal — because he had the temerity to mention your Facebook activity. Either you do not understand what stalking is, or it has somehow escaped your notice that every time you like a page or post a comment on something, Facebook sends that information to all the people on your friends list, whether they’re interested or not. If you don’t want everybody in your social network to know what you’re doing, you probably shouldn’t use Facebook.
You need to understand something: If you honestly believe that being delisted from Route66Motels.com is going to harm your business, you clearly need me a lot worse than I will ever need you. I take no advertising and receive no financial compensation for maintaining that site. Route66Motels.com exists exclusively to provide free advertising for small businesses, many of which had no online presence at the time I built the site.
You asked me to list your property, and I did so as a personal favor to you. My mama-bear streak is such that I do not extend personal favors to people who launch vitriolic, dishonest, and completely unwarranted attacks on my husband, regardless of their motivations. Thus, your listing has been removed.
No matter how you try to paint yourself as a noble political martyr, the painful reality is that this is not political. It is personal — deeply, viscerally personal. I cannot imagine why anyone in his right mind would assume that ANY woman would bend over backwards to provide free advertising for a business whose owner had just publicly attacked her husband. That’s certainly not how I roll.
That’s a “personal” facebook page, that is actually private for viewing except by “friends”, it is not a blog page or business page you “like” as a fan. No one ever asked you for a favor either, just fairness. Stalking is, as stalking does! I do not go around looking on my “friends” facebook pages to try and interpret their political beliefs, because they’re my “friends” and I accept them for who they are, not who I’d like them to be. Pandering on someone’s personal facebook page and making comments about their likes or otherwise on here to sensationalize your version of something, is 100% personal and unprofessional. You have taken this all completely off your rocker personal, and proven by your own admission your own website has nothing to do with facts or fairness, but just your own personal opinion, preferences and therefore has no merit. You have again NEVER even attempted to address the comment from the very beginning, of not allowing others to bend their political will off topic of the article, but then I think if no one knew before, they now do for sure, where you stand both politically and unprofessionally. This NEVER started out as an attack, no matter what you have to say about it, on neither your husband nor yourself, but since you’ve made it so, and all in the name of yourselves instead of anything better for the road – C’est la vie and I bid you adieu! Rant on, I’m done with you both…
FYI, your page and your interests are public and freely accessible to friends and nonfriends who have a Facebook account, which at last count was over 1 billion.
RT: I really don’t think you understand how Facebook works. If you have a person on your friends list, that person is going to get a notification in his/her news feed every time you like a page, like a post, comment on a post, update your status, post a picture, or do anything else. I don’t like it, either, but as far as I can tell, there’s no way to shut it off.
Also, FB’s default setting is public, not “friends only,” and every time they do an update, it can wipe out your custom settings — so if you’re truly concerned about privacy, you should check your settings frequently and assume that everything you do on FB is a matter of public record.
As for answering your original question: I provided a very specific answer to your question about Ron’s criteria for allowing people to comment on his site. You just didn’t like the answer, presumably because it didn’t support your conspiracy theory.
Finally: What part of “Motels are listed — or not listed — on this Web site exclusively at the personal whim of the site owner” and “Motels are listed here because I personally like them” (https://www.route66motels.com/crimony.htm) confused you? Why would you go to a site that states, in no uncertain terms, that it is based on personal whim and personal opinion and expect it to deliver “facts” and “fairness”? That’s like being upset because you couldn’t get a bowl of posole at a frozen custard stand.
Of course, because Ron is a better person than I am — and because his site is, in fact, based on fact and fairness — he continues to promote your business here on Route66News.com. If you had any breeding, you’d thank him for that instead of biting the hand that feeds you, but I’m not holding my breath.
If you care that much about facebook, then you really do waste a lot of your time? Facebook is not real news, nor is your blog of cut and pastes from all across the web. I used to have a political page on facebook, it is long since gone because of my disdain for politics and it’s uselessness, and I can’t even possibly keep up with all the old likes or dislikes. If this world is all about your blog and facebook, then we’re all already done for. You actually have time to look through someone’s personal facebook page and all the links on there from over the years, and think that that actually means something, or you know something without even bothering to have a personal conversation with them and ask about it. You simply click on the internet, and because you say so, it’s true??? If you’re all about credibility, the internet and facebook are the last place you should ever be looking. You’re all hype and politics, both of which I don’t have much time for anymore…
Actually, I do think that links that a person likes over the years do mean something.
And, yes, I do go to Facebook a lot because it’s a good way to gather information.
Because a person is a Republican doesn’t make them evil, nor because they support any Republican based groups. Being an extreme left wing liberal doesn’t make you right or better or more credible than anyone else either. As stated before and on many previous occasions, politics have no place on the road and only seek to divide it. It’s also funny you don’t happen to see Republicans on here bashing Democrats or otherwise, proving again that is only your own political agenda to perpetuate divisiveness and politics across the road, and that you are in no way, shape or form neutral nor objective – the first basis of any good journalism! Remember the very basis and foundation of reporting – the W’s – none of which includes an “O” for your opinions. Opinions are not news nor facts, everyone’s got one, you just use so called news to force yours on other people, or brainwash those less equipped to seek the facts. So now you’ve lost another potential fan, friend, follower, customer or otherwise. Thanks for making it easy by showing your true self, facebook stalking and political agenda. Hopefully Route 66 will survive and thrive, in spite of political hacks like yourself…
Please show on this story where I have personally interjected politics. I’m waiting.
And this is not only a news site, but an advocacy site about Route 66. Advocacy means giving my opinion from time to time. I won’t apologize for that.
Is this Szeman guy aware that in union-encouraging progressive nations like my adopted home Australia, he is the butt of jokes during and after Union Meetings, News Broadcasts Intro-“And this is the week’s Only In America Segment” & Outro “So why doesn’t he just PAY them?” and dinner conversation between both Bourgeois Class AND Working Class friends.
Szeman is embarrassing to Americans living abroad, I can assure your readers. Folks say, “Doc, didn’t you live in Albuquerque?” and I have to blush and say, “Yeah, but it looks like the Bosses are getting even WORSE in all 50 states.”
I guess I have not been notified of all post about the malt shop
I do think until there is proof that the owner did go after an employee then he shoud not be removed from anything.
Ron if you do have first hand fact knowledge that this guy has gone off the deep end and did in fact go to the ex-employees house and threaten him with these items then yes, remove the business.
If you do not have fact first hand knowledge I will say it is your sight to do as you please but you are wrong in removing him as you have found him guilty with only hearsay.
As for as him not paying the new minium wage that is his right,He is not violating state or Federal labor laws . The city is trying to mandate the wage.
This was voted on by people in the town ,anyone would be stupid to not vote for it if they did not own a business .If you own a business you would be stupid to vote for it. I bet if you look ther eis a lot more non-business owners than there are business owners.
How could it possibly fail to become a law ? Can no one see a conflict of interest in this but me voting ?
This is like you and 30 family members owning a parcel of land with 50 houses on it, and only one vote is allowed from each house for anything that requires a vote,unless you are a owner of land in that parcel and then each owner can vote
You decide to raise the rent but instead of doing it you call for a vote, is there any doubt how that vote is going to turn out ?
If you do not like the wage paid quit and move on
I think there are times when a person accepts a job to survive,does not mean he has to stay there.
I get tired of hearing my salary sucks my job sucks .Then change jobs even if it means moving.
In my younger days I had 28 jobs one year and moved 18 times or more from across town to different towns and back to the same towns. I never kept a job that I had to complain about.
I try to hear all of both sides before forming an opinion ,but Ron I think you are wrong on removing the malt shop without all the facts.This time I do think you may have let yourself get to personally involved both with the business or legal side of the issue and the political side of it as well.
You have been doing this a long time , don’t let your thoughts destroy what you have built
Doc, the new minimum wage was approved by the voters, and thus became law. The Route 66 Malt Shop’s owner said he decided to not pay the minimum wage, therefore he is breaking the law. Those facts are indisputable.
The owner also tacitly admitted his son, a supervisor at the restaurant, threatened or at least intimidated the employee. Either thing also is illegal.
I have removed businesses from my listings before for bad behavior. In the unlikely event Route 66 Malt Shop is exonerated, I will put its listing back up.
You can’t call it even close to a legal vote it is so one sided,I do not see how any judge could rule in favor of the city if it went to court.
I know as a business owner and if in a city that did that I would be pushing every business owner in the city to file a class action lawsuit or something aganist the city and fight till my last breath
I understand state and Federal laws on wages but a city can’t take care of what it has nuch less add a law that could drive a company out
Having studied some busines law I am not sure that is even legal to do
This is similar to the article : A city near me built a lake.
They then passed a law that you had to pay to fish and put a boat in the water . There was no fee for using the park or camp grounds or to swim.
They charged this for about 20 years no one argued it.
After doing some reading I found out it was illegal for them to charge to fish in the lake . Even their city ttorney argued with me that they could.
A few letters written to the state and within weeks the charge was removed and all funds for that 20 years had to be redirected to a charity of some sort
Cities are always passing/voting on something all the time that does not mean it is a law even though they think it is.
One of the very things wrong with our country today is we see it and take for granted it is gospel
Everyone went carzy over the patriot bill that says online gambling is illegal . Even online casinos,our politicians that passed it ,attorneys,the President all were saying it was.
I have ask all of them to show me where it says it is illegal
What they passed was a law making it not legal to use a credit card and some electronic transactions
None have showed me anything nd in fact the state of Nevada and New Jersey just passed a law saying that it is ok to gamble online in their states , why they have come up with a way to collect a tax on it
I would say then you do have the right since he has already admited guilt to some extent
Doc, I respectfully submit you’re very wrong about the legality of Albuquerque’s minimum-wage law.
More than 100 counties or cities across the United States have enacted their own minimum wages or “living wage” laws. These local ordinances — several which date back 50 years — have been repeatedly upheld by the courts.
You can read more about the issue here: https://static.ilsr.org/drdave/2-minwage.html
Ready for this people?
The owner of this place considers his employees to be “tipped” employees, Therefore this guy is complaining about paying his staff the mandated $3.83 an hour, THREE DOLLARS AND EIGHTY THREE cents an hour, and this idiot won’t PAY IT?
Instead he pays TWO DOLLARS and thirteen cents? An HOUR?
Watch this (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QPKKQnijnsM) if you dare, and get back to me.
Here’s your joke of the day.
This schmuck is complaining about paying $3.83 an hour.
Seriously. Read the complaint.
And for those of you supporting him, you really think this is fair? This is the American Dream?
I’m sorry for the double post. Please feel free to ignore/remove comment #10
I have not checked in on this site for several years because of the left leaning views of the articles and comments. I don’t politics mixed in with my hobbies. I just happened to check back in today, and see that things have not changed.
Jim
Please enlighten me on what articles have supposedly been left-leaning, Jim. If comments turn political, left or right, well, that’s going to happen.
Hi Ron. I thought over the comment I left above, and it is not entirely true. The Great Recession and the “Recovery” have devastated me and my family, to the point that I will likely never be able to take my first Route 66 trip (financial reasons) anytime soon. So even though some (but not all) of your comments lean left, I stopped checking in here partly because I have given up hope on a Rte 66 road trip.
As far as what articles have been left leaning, I cannot be very specific because it has been several years since I have been here. So I do not have a “smoking gun,” nor do I think that it is important enough to have one to use against you. You obviously put in much time and effort to have a great 66 news site, and it is appreciated. You don’t deserve to be bashed.
But since you asked, there have been several articles/stories I do feel have left leaning bias.
1. Years ago you had a story about crime in the Chain of Rocks Bridge area, and I recall the tone of the article was somewhat sympathetic to the perpetrators because their race. I believe the article was possibly in response to a brutal rape and murder of two girls on the bridge. I do not live in the STL area, but after reading your article I did google search the case.
2. Also years ago, you were critical of some businesses along the Route that advertised as “American Owned,” and you may have called for a boycott or removal of businesses in an organization that promotes business along the route. If there were a boycott or pressure on any “Muslim or Indian Owned” business, there would be selective outrage by leftist.
3. An article you submitted concerning the speed trap tactics of the Arcadia OK PD. I recall one of your points being that since most of the ticketed motorist where white, and the town gov and pd are black, the white motorist ticketed were being “racist” in their complaints. If the race of motorist/cops were reversed here, it is possible that CNN would have Anderson Cooper doing on site reports.
I did not go through any archives ( I am going off my memory) to find bits of info to use against you, and you can counter each of my claims if you wish, but a theme of so-called “social justice” is extremely apparent the opinions you add to news stories, and “social justice” is a staple of progressive doctrine.
The argument you and your wife had with RT was ugly and distasteful, and I just happened to return to your site days after that occurred. I am not mad at you and wish you and your family no ill will. But imagine if you discovered a new band, with a great sound and great songs, and then discovered that they were ardent Tea Party supporters…. That is the kind of disappointment I believe your conservative readers feel when politics are injected into an interest or hobby to distract the mind from a mean and faltering world.
Jim
Let me refresh your memory:
— On the Chain of Rocks Bridge case, the well-researched book I reviewed made it clear the accounts of the murder by the suspects and surviving victim were extremely conflicting. I also quote from the book’s text: “The cases have been widely criticized as being filled with police brutality, prosecutorial misconduct, racial bias, and unanswered questions about what actually happened that night and who did what, with some testimony simply not adding up and the defendants arguably tried for the actions of the group as a whole. These issues led to question about the appropriateness of the death penalty in the cases while there was also a huge public outcry for justice for the Kerry sisters.” Those are the author’s words, not mine.
You called the victims “egalitarians” in a comment, which seems rather glib in light of what happened to them.
— I have never called for a boycott of motels that use the “American Owned” tag. However, I do criticize its use because its intent to appeal to xenophobic elements of society. AAA, Michael Wallis, and Jim Conkle — all whom run the gamut of the political spectrum — have supported my stand on this. I make no apologies for standing up against bigotry.
— On the Arcadia police story, here’s the quote: “Arcadia, according to the latest census, is 55 percent black, and nearly all of its city officials — including police — are black. The huge majority of Oklahoma residents and Route 66 travelers are white. To ignore the possibility of racial tensions and resentments by either side is naive.” I raised the race element as possibility, given the obviously contrasting facts. Most smart people would.
I should note that RT and the other commenters injected politics to the Route 66 Malt Shop, and not me. If you have a beef about that aspect, you can take it to them. I also note that RT could not refute anything factually that was was said by the commenters. I saw no need to refute anything, because what they said was basically accurate.
And your conclusions about my site’s alleged themes of “social justice” have me perplexed. I’m not even sure what that means.
Ron, most of your post over the years about re-building a motel, or a clip of a rte 66 cover song, or something along those lines never had any bias at all. I used to very much enjoy a story about a restored gas station, or diner ,or oddities on the road.
I am sure you know what “social justice” has come to mean in modern society. Any informed reader on your site, regardless of political affiliation knows what it is and what it is used for.
The American Owned issue stood out to me. From your reporting, I feel that it was assumed by you that American Owned = bigotry. Some business at the time was in danger of being excluded from a travel directory of some type, for using this advertising theme (if I recall). This wreaks of political correctness, which is a tool of the left. From my point of view, condeming a business that uses American Owned as part of a slogan is not standing up to bigotry. But, to a left leaning person, it is. I will give a small business owner the benefit of the doubt because I know how difficult it is to operate and make ends meet. Small business owners are usually not the 1%, they are the 99%.
As far as Arcadia goes, it is the double standard that is most perplexing to me. If a nearly all white pd force was ticketing motorist who were mostly black, you and I know that the Feds would likely become involved and white officials and the pd force would be required to undergo “sensitivity training.” I suspect you would be critical of a pd force that writes speeding tickets to 66 tourist going 36 in a 35 zone. A certain element of social justice is play, because of the lack of hard criticism from the media towards Arcadia.
I don’t know RT, and never will. He may need to put his big boy pants on and remember that conservatives often get ridiculed and mocked on blogs, in the media, ect… (That’s just part of what we accept.) But I do understand his venting out loud. I think that the union guy’s comments could have been addressed. He basically said “small business owners were the worst … complaining about not having the dough,” and “republicans all out war on organized labor unions,” were what set RT off. By not countering this man’s comments, shows that you agree with his statements.
Ron, I think of this exchange we are having as more of a conversation than a debate. I am not angry and please do not feel that I am attacking you or work here. I am just offering opinion. Sort of like feed back you may not want to hear or don’t understand.
Jim
I have never been “glib” about brutal rape and murder. I assume you know that. Perpetrators may have sympathizers here on earth, but they will pay in the after life. Know that.
Tackling these things in the order you commented on them:
— The term “social justice” is so vague and amorphous, I don’t know what it means to you. It’s not a part of my lexicon. To assume everyone knows what it means — including me — is presumptuous.
— I do feel “American Owned” for motels tries to appeal to a racial element of customers as a way to drive a wedge between them and Asian-American motel owners. AAA, which has been in travel industry for decades, has come to this conclusion after years of observation. Jim Conkle and Michael Wallis, who are polar opposites politically but have traveled Route 66 for many years, have come to the same conclusion as well. The organization and these gentlemen’s opinions carry a lot of credibility, and for good reason. To assume calling out a form of bigotry is simply leftist is presumptuous. Fighting bigotry has always been a nonpartisan effort, and should remain so.
— Because I noted the stark racial differences between Arcadia residents and motorists who come through their town does not mean I approve of the town’s overzealous ticketing policy. I made that abundantly clear in the story that I thought the policy, though lawful, to be counterproductive to the town’s tourism efforts and harmful to Route 66. But I wasn’t going to ignore the racial differences as a possible reason for the town’s aggressive policy.
— You say “conservatives often get ridiculed and mocked on blogs, in the media.” The political spectrum of blogs and the media is so diverse, your statement is invariably incorrect. There are countless blogs and media outlets that poke fun at liberals. You make it sound like the media and blogs lean just one way politically, which I assure you it definitely does not.
— Sal Paradise’s comments about small business owners come from his own experience. Based on his thoughtful comments in the past, I saw no reason why he wasn’t being truthful. And Republicans, rightly or wrongly, have long been more hostile to labor unions. Being tougher on unions was part of the GOP’s platform in 2012 (https://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/08/30/g-o-p-platform-seeks-to-weaken-powers-of-unions/). I didn’t counter Sal’s statements because there was nothing to refute. Just because someone doesn’t like the facts doesn’t mean they’re untrue.
— I’m not assuming evil-doers will pay for their misdeeds in the afterlife, if such a thing even exists. I have no proof of this, nor does anyone else.
In the end, don’t assume I’m a conservative or a liberal. I’ve voted for candidates on both ends of the spectrum, and hold views that could be construed as conservative or liberal. I tend to make judgments on a case-by-case basis, using my knowledge and experience to flesh out a final conclusion.
Hi Ron, you asked me for examples of some left leaning opinion in some of your past post, and I provided those examples. We have gone back and forth on these, and we will have to agree to disagree. And of course your judgements are formed by using your knowledge and experience, so are mine and so are nearly everyone elses. The world looks different to you than it does to me. Thats human nature.
But after re-reading the comments in response to your post about the malt shop, I feel that I have not been clear on why I spoke up, and why I may have gotten into a somewhat personal and nasty sounding arguement between you/your wife and this RT guy. I was simply giving you feedback from my perspective because it is difficult for people, even very intelligent people, to see themsleves from the outside. My feed back is not meant to be finger pointing or malicious. I need and value feed back from others I respect because it makes me a better guy, since I am flawed and am not always right.
I feel that the following is a truth of life : For every customer/client that complains, there are likely to be 10 more that did not speak up because most people are not confrontational. They will simply go away and not be customers or clients. Use a restaurant as an example. When a customer sends food back to the kitchen for whatever reason, there is an opportunity for the manager or chef to make it right. But most diners will not tell their server (tipped employees who make less than minimum wage) if there is something wrong. They just pay, leave, and never come back. Or, they do something worse: they tell others about a bad experience. Now, I did not tell anyone else about my perception of your journalism, I just left and did not return here until a couple of days ago.
The analogy above may not be the best, and I am not sure that this Rte 66 site is a business, but my feed back was just for your info. I should have made that clear in the beginning. This is your site and your kingdom, and of course you may rule it as you see fit. But it sounds as though divisivness may be causing some rifts in your 66 community, and that is probably not a good thing.
Also, just as a side note, I don’t know you personally, but I take you at your word. I will believe you before I believe anything coming from the ny times. A link to a story written about the GOP platform by a labor report from Columbia University, who works for a left leaning paper? Whaaaat? I wasn’t born yesterday!
I enjoyed our discussion. Good luck to you and yours, and maybe we will meet on the road one day!
Jim the Conservative
Divisiveness has always been part of the Route 66 community in the 15 years I’ve been involved, simply because it represents a broad group of people and views. I do not expect the Route 66 community to march in lockstep. America is a very democratic and thus very messy thing, and Route 66 reflects that. And I’ve seen no drop-off in traffic in the eight years this website has existed.
If you don’t believe the GOP platform in 2012 wasn’t hostile to unions, you can read the document yourself: https://www.gop.com/2012-republican-platform_home/
How about contacting the restaurant to get their side of the story before you do more damage to a great local and Route 66 family run business. Don’t believe everything you read or see in the media. Lots of lies flying around about this…
admin@route66maltshop.com
By all means, please tell us all the lies that the media has allegedly told, Mr. Szeman. The floor is open to you.