Where Do Roses Come From?

Roses are red

Violets are blue

...

I get beautiful roses delivered to me about twice a year from The Dad.  These arrangements always come from Staneks, a local staple - THE - local nursery staple on the South Hill.

I was scanning The Twitterverse the other day and came across a tweet that said that after 99 years, the business was closing after a dispute with the City - Parks Department over land that Staneks uses as their parking lot that the City actually owns.

My initial thought, without more details was - that the City had decided to get greedy, wouldn't budge on an arrangement and so the Staneks owners hands were tied.  When I arrived home from work, the T.V. on, I hear the newscaster say "...from the City Parks Department said that..." and as I continued to change "... Stanek declined an interview."

Hmmmm... If he has a legitimate argument - why decline to be interviewed?

And then the REAL story breaks.  Mr. Stanek, knowing that the City made a deal with one his family members at some point in the last 56 years that allowed Staneks to use the property in question, as their parking lot....  Free O' Charge... was going to have to connect with the City because he planned to sell the business.  Period.  This whole "having to close" only came to the surface because Mr. Stanek has decided he's no longer into flowers and customers - but likely a sunshiny condo somewhere other than The Can.  To sell the business, he would have to tell a buyer that the parking lot isn't part of the gig - or get the City to somehow "gift" him that land so he could sell it WITH the parking lot.

So here I thought the City was being greedy.  My apologies City.  

My heart goes out to any Staneks employees that are not related to Staneks family members because they will have to find work elsewhere.  Having just gone through an unexpected layoff in our home, where the rich got richer...  and we... didn't... I hate seeing this happen.  I hope they are able to find jobs long before January 15th!

Wait a minute!  Perhaps he's not selling and moving to the sunny side.  Perhaps... hear me out... what with the recent election results... Canada is part of their "retirement" plans, eh?