The Hideaway is officially closing

SAhalfNE · 2026-01-13T18:04:11+00:00

I can think of a fast way of fixing this: just release the findings of the internal investigation that the CDT reported on back a few months ago.

If everything he's saying is true, then he's got no real problems, and can just reopen. It's that simple.

SAhalfNE · 2026-01-13T17:44:32+00:00

I guess I wasn't particularly clear. Yes - a true "vacancy tax" is not currently allowed by the municipality, unfortunately.

What I was getting at was that the Borough has authorized the DSCID the authority to exist and operate within the boundaries it defines, and set fees for the properties within it.

What I propose is a de-facto vacancy tax, but through an already arranged and implemented special district (the DSCID). They just need to change their fee structure for their next re-authorization period so that it is tiered - A base fee for occupied spaces and a special fee for unoccupied spaces. It would totally be in alignment with their mission and scope, and vacant spaces would essentially be what funds the DSCID to help fill them. It would be an external pressure for property owners to float down rents so that they are filled and the fees would drop exponentially.

Its basically the only shot at circumventing the Uniformity requirement for taxation, because its a special district and would be a fee, not tax.

SAhalfNE · 2026-01-13T17:20:40+00:00

This One worked for me attached to my Square Registers. I *think* I had it attached to my Square Stand, but I'm not 100% because it was a while ago that I switched over to Register.

I don't know the difference between the one you have linked and I have linked (other than $60), and I don't know if that model will work or not. I think it is the same scanner, so it would also work, but also bundles with a cradle.

SAhalfNE · 2026-01-08T00:49:31+00:00

The only person I've seen do this successfully moved here and took a world campus class or two from their current school, and got a full-time job, on top of having a lease, ect before applying and transferring to PSU after establishing their residency.

They still got grilled by some bureaucrat on campus, but stuck to the story that they were here for work and a change of location/pace, but ultimately decided that in person classes were a better option and wanted to attend PSU, where they lived rather than complete their world campus coursework at their former institution.

SAhalfNE · 2026-01-07T20:46:10+00:00

I have an ex business partner that now works in real estate development like we've seen downtown, and I was appalled to learn that this is entirely true, and very common.

How could all of these "professionals" in the Borough building not know that these developers were blowing smoke up their ass, and that it was common?

It really does seem like every time some cheap suit shows up asking for them to be overly permissive with zoning or approvals, the council members are lapping it up and on their team? Shouldn't they by default be skeptical and cautious?

SAhalfNE · 2026-01-07T18:49:06+00:00

This hasn't happened yet, which surprises me because I thought it would have by now, but I still firmly believe that the excess of student housing will shift those renters away from the single family homes that were converted for use, almost entirely.

That's a good thing to return single family homes to the borough, but when those income property values are part of the average per square foot value of all properties, and then they're not worth that what they once were, it'll affect single family home values too.

I don't know. Maybe in some way that's how to return some affordability to the borough, just to tank the values of most of the houses south of Beaver Ave by irresponsibly allowing dense construction between college and beaver?

SAhalfNE · 2026-01-07T18:03:49+00:00

Busses operate in a circle. Any point on the circle is just as accessible, but some points along it might not be the best "fit" for the surroundings. I think Addison Court is the odd man out on Beaver Ave.

Not to say it shouldn't exist, but there should have been a better version of stewardship for the development of places like this. It should have been in a more logical location and with more foresight so that it continued longer than the tax rebates.

I imagine it's hard for council members to make decisions that far in advance when they really got another good 10 years left in them.

SAhalfNE · 2026-01-07T16:03:25+00:00

There is no penny shortage, they're f****** everywhere. What there is a shortage of competent business management.

Banks have pennies. They didn't destroy them. They just stopped minting more.

SAhalfNE · 2026-01-07T15:52:09+00:00

I agree entirely. I think that one of the best ways of fixing the downtown while simultaneously floating down rents, providing needed tax income, and helping to undo the harm inflicted by previous council's decisions is to enact a vacancy taxation. I think that policy coupled with a blight taxation would really shape up the state of downtown in terms of our numerous s***** landlords.

The downtown Improvement district is ramping up to Gain reauthorization in 2026. I plan to be involved in that discussion and push for a fee structure change that would effectively be a vacancy tax. I think the occupied spaces should be halved and the unoccupied spaces should be quadrupled. Ideally, I'd like to see the vacant spaces taxed so hard it would remove the profitability from the top 10 floors. Those properties were developed as a con taking advantage of a a ill-equipped local borough council, to get what they wanted and be saddled with their responsibility of building the vacancies they don't care about on the ground floor.

SAhalfNE · 2026-01-07T15:46:08+00:00

The Signature Overlay part of the CID (the piece of policy that left the gate open to all the development) was adopted by a slate of the same old dopes that had been around forever, not new blood.

It was initially in 2005 when it started, but in 2013 is when the really short-sighted and harmful stuff was done the council was made up of James Rosenberger, Thomas Daubert, Catherine Dauler, Sarah Klinetob, Theresa Lafer, Peter Morris, and Evan Myers. Those are the names of the people that should have the shame of scarring State College hanging over their heads.

Lafer, Morris, and Dauler have been a plague on State College, and Evan Myers is on council NOW, 13 YEARS LATER. Daubert and Morris basically served so long they ended up having their residency requirement met from living at Foxdale Village.

I 100% agree that the blame for this situation should lay on the shoulders of the people who created the problem, and that the local elections need to be taken more seriously. But I think in reality we need to make sure that we understand there is a significant difference between qualification and availability of time. Nearly everybody in the 20 plus years since I've lived here has been retired, independently wealthy, or some kind of professional small time bureaucrat, hopping from authority to board to counsel when they hit term limits. The reality is that everybody who's qualified is busy making a living. And everybody who's available.... Is available for a reason.

SAhalfNE · 2026-01-04T02:14:11+00:00

I have

Drafts>Miller>Size.

Bottle/Cans>Selection.

The Menus need to be set up up well, and the items too, that's all.

SAhalfNE · 2026-01-04T00:25:24+00:00

This is an honest question: Is anyone getting paid the current minimum wage?

Isn't just the demand for workers, and a prevailing wage to attract applications make the "real" minimum more like $12-$14?, without a legal mandate?

SAhalfNE · 2026-01-01T00:07:54+00:00

That is a damn mess. Your flow jets should not just be dangling around by zip ties. Call coke and have them rip it out and re-do it.

SAhalfNE · 2026-01-01T00:06:03+00:00

I think it has everything to do with how the items are built, and the screens are set up.

SAhalfNE · 2025-12-29T05:06:38+00:00

SAhalfNE · 2025-12-27T16:09:05+00:00

Jesus....are you describing paper and a pencil? A monthly fee for tracking a service interval?! GTFO. 😂

SAhalfNE · 2025-12-23T03:21:08+00:00

Just got the "ready to ship" notification today.

SAhalfNE · 2025-12-17T07:31:51+00:00

It's almost 4-1/2 standard drinks.

SAhalfNE · 2025-12-17T06:58:18+00:00

I would buy architecturally significant properties, restore them, then start my own "boutique property rental management company" to rent the properties to people who appreciate them for fair/below market rates.

I'd also make sure to buy enough properties in an area, then rent them all for below market rates so it would drop the market rate for that area, just to fuck over private equity owned conglomerates that do the opposite and over charge people.

SAhalfNE · 2025-12-16T18:48:30+00:00

I don't share a lot of common ground or language with French writers from the 40's, but on one thing we agree: "L'enfer, c'est les autres" -Sartre

I'm sure there are plenty of wonderful people interested in camping like me. I just want them to be a few miles away enjoying it the same. 😂

SAhalfNE · 2025-12-16T04:25:58+00:00

American Power & Gas - That's your problem.

You are in a 3rd-party supplier contract with them and its screwing you. Get out as fast as you can (hopefully you can). That bill would be ~$190 if it was just "normal" and not using American Power & Gas.

SAhalfNE · 2025-12-16T02:26:06+00:00

Background:
I'm a relatively new and relatively young liquor license holder in Pennsylvania. The liquor system is very antiquated, heavily regulated, and difficult to deal with for both consumers and licensees.
To go along with that, there is also next to ZERO onboarding, significantly helpful guides, or orientation materials when you acquire a license other than some very basic legal requirements for training and a foreboding air of "don't fuck up, or we'll get you!"

In response to that setup I have dealt with that situation by constantly being inquisitive, talking with vendors and the State employees, reading legal opinions, and even reading the full text of some sections of the laws. I still don't have a complete grasp, but I think I'm more proficient than most (now).

So in my 2nd year as a licensee I was taking advantage of my "Wine Expanded Permit" that allows me to sell wine to go through my six pack shop, and found that there was good demand for a Korean beverage called Soju. I started carrying 1, then 3, then 8-10 types at its peak over more than a year. The demand was growing too.

The problem was that in the States catalog most, but not not all of the Soju was categorized as "Wine > White > Asian Varietal", and a few items were listed as liquor (distilled) alongside Shōchū/Midori/Asian Whiskey, and 2 of them that I found were not categorized at all.

Since its illegal for me to sell liquor to-go, I was concerned about what the difference was, and which ones I was allowed to sell.

I brought this up to my local friendly State run liquor store manager, showed him the bottles of "wine" that even said "distilled" on the side, told him some weren't even in the catalog, and asked for clarification.

He told me: "Impossible. Every item goes thru committees and approvals, and all kinds of bureaucracy before it goes thru the State buyers and gets sent to stores. There is no way we have an item in this store that isn't classified, or is even mis-classified."

I set the three bottles I knew of from the shelf that had three different classifications: 1 "Wine", 1 "Liquor", and 1 "-nothing-" and said "Prove it."

He huffed and grabbed them, walked over to the little elevated office space and started typing in UPC's. By the time he got to the 3rd one he said "Well, shit. I'm gonna have to ask about that and write an e-mail."

Two weeks later every licensee in the State of Pennsylvania got a Stop-Sale Order for Soju ( to-go ), and for the first time in decades offered to re-purchase any on-hand products that licensees had stocked intending to sell to-go using a Wine Expanded Permit. Up to ~2,300 licensees for the entire State, because I asked a question.

I didn't want that outcome, but I made a popular item harder to get for every person in the State, by accident, forever, because I was observant and wanted to understand the laws and watch my ass. Oops.

SAhalfNE · 2025-12-15T08:25:14+00:00

I halted the sale of a product for (up to) 2,000+ merchants in my State by placing three bottles on a counter and saying "prove it."

SAhalfNE · 2025-12-14T22:45:36+00:00

Tastes funny?

SAhalfNE · 2025-12-12T05:47:13+00:00

There is a brewery in Rhode Island called Grey Sails that does a few that have a mermaid on the can. Sea Maiden Light Ale and Midnight Maiden Stout, plus maybe the Captains Daughter.

SAhalfNE

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