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Although I wasn’t quite sure what point Ben Joravsky was trying to make with his article on the 77-year-old freelance illustrator, Ralph Creasman, in “No Job Too Small,” November 28, whether 1) City Hall is picking on the little guy or 2) enforcement of business-license laws is arbitrary, he should have mentioned how lucky Mr. Creasman was that he didn’t have to pay for all those years he didn’t have a proper license and that his office had the right zoning for running a business. No, I don’t work for City Hall nor am I endorsing Mayor Daley’s crackdown on anyone who owes the city money, as mentioned in the article. I am an artist who is very active in the arts community of Chicago and learning all the time about city business licenses for selling art, building codes for hosting events, and what one has to do in order to serve peanuts at an art opening.
If you want to serve food, you need to obtain a food-serving license that costs $100 per onetime event plus attend a class in order to get certified on how to serve food properly. Even if you serve wrapped chewing gum and bottled water, you need a food license. (Tap water requires no food license.) Serving, not even selling, liquor also requires another license ($125 per event) plus a certified bartender to serve it. Want to do a silent auction for a worthy cause? Cough up $1,000 for a gambling license plus hire a certified auctioneer to run it. A raffle? Shell out $100, hire a certified public accountant to run it, plus show that the proceeds will go to a nationally registered not-for-profit group.
