New York vs ChicFilA (faith, Christianity, Christians, behavior)
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I can see both sides of this one, but the state controls who gets to operate concessions in these rest areas and what restrictions apply, so I tend to lean in the state's direction. From a purely economic standpoint, your point is well taken that since Chic-Fil-A pays the rent they could be closed all the time if they so choose since the state still gets the rent, but the state's "compelling interest" which is the legal standard here, is to have all the square footage serving passers-by at all times, and I think that is legitimate.
It is also a valid argument IMO that if Chic-Fil-A believes in "honoring the Lord's Day", then they should be fine with missing out on some opportunities as a result ... in fact they should be proud to miss out, and not play the "persecution" card. It is almost certain that this proposed law is a result of annoyance with Chic-Fil-A but there's no evidence that it's some form of religious persecution, either.
You’d have a stronger argument if New York were trying to force all privately run businesses to operate daily. But that’s not what’s happening here. I can understand why some lawmakers want vendors in state-operated rest stops to be open daily, for the benefit of the people who use New York’s limited access highways daily and stop and spend money at said rest stops.
Forgive me for shedding no tears for Homophobia Fried Chicken, which can and will continue to operate throughout New York State and elsewhere.
I can see both sides of this one, but the state controls who gets to operate concessions in these rest areas and what restrictions apply, so I tend to lean in the state's direction. From a purely economic standpoint, your point is well taken that since Chic-Fil-A pays the rent they could be closed all the time if they so choose since the state still gets the rent, but the state's "compelling interest" which is the legal standard here, is to have all the square footage serving passers-by at all times, and I think that is legitimate.
It is also a valid argument IMO that if Chic-Fil-A believes in "honoring the Lord's Day", then they should be fine with missing out on some opportunities as a result ... in fact they should be proud to miss out, and not play the "persecution" card. It is almost certain that this proposed law is a result of annoyance with Chic-Fil-A but there's no evidence that it's some form of religious persecution, either.
I'm not sure how this whole thing would work, Mordant. I mean, can the state force a private business to remain open IF that business might lose money?
While the state is getting rent, the business has operational concerns. Electricity, heat in the winter, a/c in the summer, employee's salaries, etc. Would Chic-Fil-A get enough business on a Sunday to actually make a profit? How would that even be determined?
Plus, would the business be required to be open 24 hours?
I'm not sure how this whole thing would work, Mordant. I mean, can the state force a private business to remain open IF that business might lose money?
While the state is getting rent, the business has operational concerns. Electricity, heat in the winter, a/c in the summer, employee's salaries, etc. Would Chic-Fil-A get enough business on a Sunday to actually make a profit? How would that even be determined?
Plus, would the business be required to be open 24 hours?
Salaries, yes, the other stuff is probably covered under the contract with the Thruway Authority, which owns the facility. I doubt they pay a separate utility bill.
The point of the concession is not just to provide service to travelers but to provide revenue to the NYTA. They lose out on 1/7th of the revenue with a concession that doesn't stay open 7 days, and you can bet that is the underlying reason for this move. Take it from your local moderator who worked for 37 years for a similar authority.
One, in 2021 the Thruway Authority contracted with an agency (Applegreen) to manage service area leases. Applegreen arranged the leases in question with Chik-fil-A. So all those claiming that 'the state' knew about Chik-fil-A's Sunday policy when 'the state' arranged leases with Chik-fil-A are mistaken, because 'the state' did not arrange those leases; Applegreen did.
Two, the Thruway Authority that concluded the arrangement with Applegreen is not those legislators who have introduced this bill. I trust the notion that every member of state government must provide unwavering and eternal support, without ever proposing any alternative law or policy or practice, to every action ever taken by the executive or the legislative or the judicial branches, is not a notion that is actually held by anyone.
Three, and this is critical, the new law would only affect future contracts of this sort. Let me quote some relevant portions of the bill:
Quote:
§ 390. Contracts for food service. Any contracts entered into for the operation of food services or food concessions at public transportation facilities owned or operated by the authority shall require that such services be provided every day of the week.
Note the requirement. It says nothing about abrogating existing contracts.
Further clarification:
Quote:
§ 3. This act shall take effect on the thirtieth day after it shall have become a law and shall apply to contracts entered into on and after such date;
See? It explicitly applies only to future arrangements.
I'm not sure how this whole thing would work, Mordant. I mean, can the state force a private business to remain open IF that business might lose money?
No, Chic-Fil-A has the right to not do business there so the state can't force them to be open on Sunday. They have hundreds of other locations outside the NY state toll road system.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Mink57
While the state is getting rent, the business has operational concerns. Electricity, heat in the winter, a/c in the summer, employee's salaries, etc. Would Chic-Fil-A get enough business on a Sunday to actually make a profit? How would that even be determined?
Plus, would the business be required to be open 24 hours?
The other businesses there consider it worth the concession rights to have to be open 7 days, although my guess is that people travel on Sundays to get home for work on Monday and there's probably plenty of Sunday business.
I have no idea whether they are open at night, but again really this is just a sort of real estate leas / concession rights situation where in exchange for the facilities you get the business and adhere to whatever other restrictions or requirements that the property owner decides to impose. I would guess that being closed on Sundays is uncommon enough in the past 30 years that it wasn't considered necessary to make explicit at the time these arrangements were originally done.
Would Chic-Fil-A get enough business on a Sunday to actually make a profit?
This post reminds me of something that happened with my then 17 year old step son.
We had a lake house we lived in at that time. On our side of the lake there was a small store/bait shop by the boat ramp... and that was pretty much all we had on our side. All the other commercial stuff was on the other side of the lake.
It was a Monday ...July 4th and I asked him if he would drive over to the little store and get a few items so we could could out.
He looked at me and innocently said... "Are you sure they will be open on the fourth of July?"
Food that appeals to children at a grown up price.
If I want a chicken sandwich, an equally good or better one can be had at nearly every other fast food restaurant these days without having to wait in a drive-thru line that's wrapped around the store 3x.
People go on about how CFA is such a great company to work for. Maybe it is at the corporate level, but I worked at a CFA restaurant for a short time while I was in college, and color me unimpressed. Easily the worst job I ever had, and the ownership and management were terrible, condescending jerks.
People go on about how CFA is such a great company to work for. Maybe it is at the corporate level, but I worked at a CFA restaurant for a short time while I was in college, and color me unimpressed. Easily the worst job I ever had, and the ownership and management were terrible, condescending jerks.
Quelle surprise!!
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I mean, can the state force a private business to remain open IF that business might lose money? 
