In the 1980s, the District of Columbia government shut down Ego Brown’s shoe-shining business, citing a 1905 ordinance forbidding shoeshine stands in public spaces. Mr. Brown employed homeless people, providing them not only with a job but a shower and a tuxedo uniform. Then-Mayor Marion Barry ignored repeated requests to reform the district’s shoeshine ordinance. That law was eventually struck down in court, but the situation has hardly changed, as street shoe-shiners must still obtain numerous permits, submit to a background check and pay more than $1,500 in fees.
. . . Policy makers looking to highlight the deleterious effects of regulations often focus on entrepreneurs. But the unintended consequences often fall most heavily on the disadvantaged. The government is supposed to provide needy citizens with a safety net, not ensnare them in a web of red tape.
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