What's really grating is the fact that a 13-year old kid is taking the initiative to support his family, get the cart, get the supplies, get the necessary permits, and then gets shut down at the very last minute by some damned bureaucrat.

He isn't groveling to Levin, begging at Stabenow or even pleading with Obama to pay all of his family's bills.

Maybe that's what Mayor Dykstra and CC all want him to do?

And Holland's mea culpa: "...success of the downtown district not be infringed upon by those who don't share in the costs of maintaining the attractiveness of that space."

Sounds like legal/political double-speak to me.

Are the other restaurants afraid that a 13-year old kid  is going to kick their sorry behinds and take away all of the business?

I've seen similar operations like this at the corner home labyrinth. If the sporting good store is ran like they are here, if this kid doesn't keep his operation neat, clean & organized, the owner will bounce him faster than you can say "zoning violation".