John Jones

A little under a week ago the Twitterverse, Facebook and other social platforms along with many news sites were clamoring over an article written by a Philadelphia paper called Philadelphia Citypaper titled, "Got a blog that makes no money? The city wants $300, thank you very much."

Philadelphia has an old licensing fee called, "Business Privilege Tax" that has been around for along time but is just now finding its way into the blogosphere for anyone in Philadelphia that has a blog.

"Every individual, partnership, association and corporation engaged in a business, profession or other activity for profit within the City of Philadelphia must file a Business Privilege Tax Return, whether or not they earned a profit during the preceding year." - BPT Description (PDF Link).

I'm a small business owner as are the majority of the readers at the moment. With the responsibility of being a small business owner, I understand the idea and requirements of paying taxes on money generated and even needing a licensing fee. There are advantages to paying taxes and my yearly licensing dues as there are with your own fees you have to pay.

I have a few concerns about the taxation and licensing fees on bloggers though that are wrapped around freedom of speech and entrepreneurship growth in particular that are really bothering me and concerns me should other cities nationwide follow in Philadelphia's footsteps.

Freedom of Speech

Negative: Since bloggers have entered the scene, we no longer have to rely 100% on what reporters from big time newspapers are sharing with us. We now have the option to see viewpoints from every possible angle much like this post here. How many people in Philadelphia do you think will foot the $300 lifetime licensing fee just to share their opinion?

Entrepreneurship Growth

Negative: Ideas abound from people like you and I who share their thoughts with others and before you know it you have something useful and may lead to a business model where you can make a comfortable living off of. However most people with ideas don't have a lot of money, especially in economical times like these and without the freedom of speech to share in this medium, their idea may never come to pass.

I wish I could add a poll on this post but since, to my knowledge, I can't... what are your thoughts on this topic? I'm particularly interested in knowing your thoughts on the following questions:

1. Would you pay a "Privilege Tax" in your area to continue blogging on Active Rain or other platforms?
2. Is such a fee fair if a blogger makes no money even if they attempted to monetize but couldn't? Isn't that how it is with any small business though?
3. If your a Philly AR member, have you paid your BPT yet?

It is no secret amongst friends and family that my wife and I enjoy eating out. Tonight was no different from any other night that we both don't feel like cooking but the one exception to that is that neither one of use wanted to choose where we went for dinner.

So I decided to get creative and asked my wife to pick a series of numbers and then explained those numbers to her while we were driving. Through those numbers and her responses once she under stood what they were, we landed at Sevilla in downtown Riverside. Sevilla is a Spanish restaurant that once had a billboard that read, "Topas not Topless" near the Pierce exit that I'd see every single day.

When we first arrived we both realized rather quickly that we might have been a tad under dressed for this place but no one gave us a second look and to be perfectly honest, we both enjoyed the experience with the staff.

STAFF

Hostess

We were greeted by our hostess and were asked if we wanted to sit in the Tapas Bar or downstairs dining area. Because we had our son, we opted for downstairs where it was a little more quieter than perhaps the bar area might have been.

The first thing that I noticed at our table before we sat down was a big glass jar with utensils in it. I had made a small statement to the Hostess right before I noticed this was to be found on every table. The Hostess asked if we had been to Sevilla before and we both said, "No". She then proceeded to tell us that the extra utensils are on the table because it is tradition that everyone shares their food with others at the table. The extra was so that we all got clean utensils to use each time.

Waiter

Our Waiter's name was Felix and he greeted us rather quickly upon sitting down and knew that we were flesh blood to the Spanish foods; the Hostess had tipped him off. He quickly proceeded to share with us a great number of selections that would be good for starters and even mentioned some of his favorites. I've personally never encountered a Waiter that spent that much time at a table giving recommendations.

Through out the dinning experience our waiter was prompt and always reminded us to save room for desert. Our drinks weren't really ever empty and whenever he came by he would take whatever it was that didn't need to be on the table off of the table like used sugar packets.

FOOD

Alioli & Fresh Baked Bread

We ordered this primarily because we thought it would be the best to share with our 15 month old son. It came pretty quickly, was hot and had two types of sauces for us to dip it into. The first being Alioli and the second being a Spanish salsa which proved to be rather tasty.

You have the option of choosing between an olive bread or a wheat french bread so we went with the french bread thinking our son might not like the olive bread, even though we thought it sounded tasty.

My personal complaint about the bread was that it was really hard on the outside which made it a little harder to chew. I powered through that though and certainly cannot say if that is simply how Spanish style french bread is.

Sea Bass Cantabrico

This was my choice for the night. I don't believe I have had Sea Bass before so I was up for a new taste.

When this arrived the first thing I noticed was the small shrimps used within the garlic sauce that covered the Sea Bass. My initial thoughts were pretty much along the lines of, "Too bad there wasn't more shrimp". The shrimp ended up being absolutely fantastic with that garlic sauce and I quickly realized that I could have ordered a plate with just those and would have been completely happy with my experience.

In addition to my Garlic sauce covered Sea Bass, my entree also came with a medley of vegetables that looked to be hand prepared and not straight out of a bag and cous cous. Both were exceptional compliments to my meal and the Cous Cous was also something new for me.

At first I was kind of disappointed when I seen the portion of my plate. However to be honest with you, by the time I was done eating, I was completely satisfied. I ended up having the perfect amount of food and didn't leave feeling full, stuffed or even bloated.

Flat Iron Steak

My wife ordered this meal and I was able to grab a bite of the steak and the mash potatoes that came with the mean. The steak was absolutely tender and the sauce over it was delicious in my opinion. The mash potatoes came with a Shallot butter that I didn't get to try but wasn't a favorite of my wife's so she simply didn't use it.

PRICE

My wife and I were not looking to spend a lot of money on dinner. However with our random selection, we were ok with trying something new. Well we knew the minute we walked in that we were not likely to walk out of Sevilla without spending a pretty penny. Our two meals, two drinks, bread and tip ran us a cool $50.00.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

Sevilla has a night club, Salsa dancing lessons on Thursdays and a host of other events. You can find out more about what they offer at http://www.cafesevilla.com.

Yesterday, Vicki Pedersen provided market statistics for Riverside California during the period of 11/20/08 to 12/20/08. This is data that I don't have direct access to but since I live in Riverside and am a recent home owner I sure wouldn't mind getting regular reports like this.

Vicki's data does include the particular zip code that my property is in and I quickly wondered how my zip code is doing compared to other zip codes. The following is Vicki's data but in chart by chart form with my zip code being 92505.

Active Listings in Riverside

Pending Sales in Riverside

Sold Homes in Riverside

Average Price of Active Riverside Real Estate

Average Price of Sold Riverside Real Estate

I'd say that my zip code is pretty average across the board. My only dissapointment is that the average price of homes in my zip code area isn't the highest across the board.

Thanks again to Vicki Pedersen for taking time out of her undoubtably busy day to compile a market snapshop for Riverside.

Just yesterday I posted a question over at Trulia titled, "Property Gifting, Taxes and other Obligations". You are more then welcome to read the details as to why I asked the question but I thought with this blog post that I'd share with you the answers that were given to me. As a soon to be new home owner via gift, the information provided was helpful but of course not complete. If after reading the responses I've received and feel that you can contribute to the discussion I'd welcome your feedback.

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Fran & Rowena
Dilbeck Realtors GMAC
http://www.FranAndRowena.com
Trulia Profile for Fran & Rowena

"We also advise you to consult with your tax, financial, legal, and/or estate planning advisors. However, we can direct you to some information on the internet so that you may increase your knowledge of this subject.

California Propositions 58 and 193 - the Riverside County Tax Portal has information here: http://www.riversidetaxinfo.com/riverside_faq_isthereanexclusion.asp

We hope that is helpful."

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Lynn Crosby
Lynn 911 Realty Team
http://www.lynn911.com
Trulia Profile for Lynn Crosby

"You need to contact a real estate attorney and a CPA who can more qualified with all the details handle your file. Brief statements a realtor can potential overlook issues/concerns/ we are not versed in all tax laws and could provide wrong information."

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One specific concern my wife and I have with becoming the owners of this property is that in the sad event that her father passes away there could be an argument by her brothers in regards to the home. This is also one of the main reasons her dad wants to give it to us now so that we avoid that possibility. In addition to our original question on Trulia Voices I'd like feedback in regards to wether or not her brothers can try to take the home away from us even if we've been the documented owners for months or years.

Hello Everyone,

Today I took a trip out to Advanced Access which is dangerously close to where the Corona / Yorba Linda fire is currently blazing away this weekend. This Southern California fire is currently being called the Triangle Complex Fire.

The media has been calling this fire one of a kind because of the way it is behaving. The fire is jumping from one area to another and in some cases completely skipping other areas. In recent updates the wind has changed and the risk is that the hop scotch pattern of this fire will go back and get buildings that were previously skipped in the last 24 hours.

The air is absolutely horrible and I still feel as though I've been sitting around a camp fire with the wind blowing the smoke directly back in my face. Eyes are itchy, throat scratchy and I have a slight headache. Needless to say the air is absolutely horrible regardless of the semi blue sky pictures I am going to show you.

Advanced Access Back Parking Lot

Advanced Access Front Parking Lot

Green River Exit Heading to Advanced Access

Gypsum - The Cascades is down this street which is an apartment complex where many apartments were burned. Was not able to get a moving shot of all the cars and people lined up on the right hand side but my heart and prayers go out to all of them that lost their homes and are waiting to get back in to see what, if anything, they've lost. This is probably less than a quarter of a mile from Advanced Access.

From Riverside

Down the road from Advanced Access is a Starbucks where many of us frequent. There is also a park near by where Advanced Access holds its annual employee picnic. To the left of the park is a fire station and the following pictures are of the Fire Trucks

These are pictures from the carwash right behind Starbucks. It absolutely amazes me that these people are wasting money AND precious water by washing their cars. Only in California!

Note:

I've been listening to 24 hour coverage of the fires from KFI 640 AM. Tune in on your car or visit http://www.kfi640.com.

Mutli view Traffic Camera shots along the 91: http://www.incorona.com/traffic.htm

Up to date official information on the Triangle Complex Fire: http://www.ocfa.org/pages/ocfa.asp?filename=freewayic.asp

Advanced Access has posted news about office closures at http://www.advancedaccess.com/blog/. They have also reminded customers that their servers are housed in Irvine within a fire and earthquake safe room. There should be no interuption to Advanced Access websites.

Have any of your own photos? Send them to me and I'll add them to another post later today.

Finally please re-blog this post so that information and pictures spread across Active Rain.