Why Did we make Front Yard Businesses Illegal?

Amazing video, during the pandemic I changed my business from renting studio spaces for photography and video sessions to using our front space in our house as a full time studio space. It saved our business thousands of dollars every year. Plus I was able to customize the space and no longer had to rent studio spaces far outside of the urban centre. We can offer other amenities now like a full bathroom and shower, lunches during long sessions etc. We are a low volume high value customer business and most of my clients are return customers. I also write off 500$ per month of our rent as a business expense for the cost of the studio space.

I’m just gonna go out on a limb here and say that America is hostile to small business owners in general

I've always found it weird how Canada and the US have such restrictive zoning codes regulating what you can and can't do on your property given that we have a reputation around the world for having a "you can't tell me what the fuck I can and can't do on my own private property" attitude towards the government. This is especially true in freedom loving America.

THIS IS SO GOOD! As a former local politician, the urban sprawl mentality was crushing. Zoning needs to change so people don't need to drive 30mins to get some milk.

its illegal because when you force people to live seperate from their business you double their bills and make them poor. Think about how often you see business's go under in plazas and malls, its because renting a business property is freakishly expensive which massivly cuts into your already thin profits

We had a guy in our home town who had a bike repair business in his garage. The city cited him for having a "front yard business" and the dude went to council with like over a thousand signatures from people within the city who believed in him and his repair shop and after some arguing the city finally caved and let him keep his business. I'm sort of ad libbing the story but it was cool and inspirational for sure!

Honestly, bringing something like this back to Canada and America would greatly help enrich the middle class and save on travel expenses for a lot of people who may find themselves farther from a city than they would have liked. And it would have also added (but incredibly important) sense of community and have others get to know their neighbor better.

This actually INCREASES property values by increasing walk scores (the ability to walk to local business for grocery, food, shopping, etc.)

One of the best pizza slices I’ve ever had was at a business running out of a single family home in New Orleans, and the business clearly had a lot of customers. I wish to see more of these!

In Mexico, this is completely legal and commonplace. I miss walking over to my neighbor's home and buying a snack or some stationery.

"the bakery ... the bakery ... or the bay curry" joke got me. I'm subscribing

To add to the topic, I think it speaks to a particular obsession with urban aesthetics that in most municipalities it is illegal to grow anything other than grass on a front lawn. I often toyed with the idea of growing vegetables and stuff that I can actually eat, rather than grass that has to be irrigated, sprayed with herbicide and seeded, mowed and mulched at a cost, with no benefit whatsoever.

It all comes down to zoning and taxes. If the Gov't isn't getting their slice of the pie, you aren't getting any pie at all. But what is really stupid is when they decide to shut down a childs lemonade stand citing "health code violations".

I've lived in Japan for a bit and while it's more tightly packed simply due to the fact land comes at a premium, it really makes North American zoning practices stand out once you return. In Japan, it's not uncommon to be within walking distance of basic necessities plus whatever there happens to be locally. In the US, you're lucky if you can get groceries without a car.

Seeing small businesses pop up out of the ground like this feels like some sort of great healing.

You really put things in perspective when reminding us that weed became legal before (or not yet in some areas) being able to put stores in residential areas. That's crazy to think about!

Black Rock is heavily invested into commercial real estate - they would never allow the public to own the buildings they also work in.

I ran a computer business and my wife ran a jewelry business and we used to have outdoor sales frequently. Until the bylaw officer came along one day and that put an end to the outdoor sales. When we moved out of that place, we ended up in an apartment that was zoned in a business/residential zone and business really took off. The sidewalk of a busy street, was right out my front door and I could legally run a business out of it with zero issues. And while it was for the better ultimately, I miss the humble beginnings of my basement business and our fun outdoor sales. It was like a yard sale, but with new stuff and it had that real community chill feel to it. Getting to know folks, we made friends doing it and people enjoyed it too.

If it wasn't illegal then people will be paying their mortgages while self employed and not having to pay loads of money on another building. It's too OP

i'd kill to have a bodega around the corner from where i live. when i'd live in mexico there's be one about every block of a neighborhood. it was so nice to just walk over to buy a snack and come back home. there were also restaurants you could just walk too. the seating was right out in the front yard you'd show up get some food and sit down. it was so nice. when the neighbors across the street opened up a store when i was in mexico, it was exciting because of how convenient it was. it was never noisy or annoying. just convinient. it beats driving to a small grocery store runs, where you show up to a big building and get overwhelmed at every corner.