dunno if this will come out in a fark link or not but here's the google satellite view of Solutions 21.

I didn't find any data on the consulting firm on OpenSecrets.org, and I only spot checked the people listed on the Solutions 21 webpage as their officers. Google search returned very little data on the firm as well. And as you can see from the satellite view, their home office is...unimpressive.

damn. the link didn't work properly.

ah well. just plug in the address for the consulting firm:

152 Wabash St, Pittsburgh, PA

I discovered PA's bizarre laws governing alcohol sales while staying there for a month in '05. It wasn't the state liquor stores that frightened me, it was the ridiculous beer laws. Have you ever seen the look on a kid's face when the ice cream scoop falls off his cone? That was me when some clerk at a Circle K explained why he couldn't sell any beer to me. The beer distributor bit was semi-OK, given that you could order obscene amounts of beer for delivery. But you had to be home, pay extra if you wanted it cold, and good luck getting that delivery if you lived on one of the narrow downtown alleys. Oh, and I could walk right down Chestnut or whatever and grab a case of scotch without a problem. I just couldn't get a six pack of beer without buying it from a bar for $18.

This is how I became a raging alcoholic. Good job, PA!

/for the retarded: no, I am not blaming PA for my character flaws

i'm rather curious about this consulting firm. I wonder how they snagged this cushy job?

State controlled liquor needs to die off. Whatever purpose these prohibition era relics served is long since past. As a resident of a state store state, I like paying double so surly union member clerks can yell and threaten to throw me out if I get the top-shelf whiskey without asking for their special permission.

$170k over 3,600 employees works out to about $48 an employee. That would be cheap if it wasn't just a political handout.

This privatization crap is for the birds.

/so is the plcb

Weaver95

i'm rather curious about this consulting firm. I wonder how they snagged this cushy job


You and I both know exactly how they get this cushy job. They sent someone a nice cushy check first.

Marcus Aurelius: Weaver95

i'm rather curious about this consulting firm. I wonder how they snagged this cushy job


You and I both know exactly how they get this cushy job. They sent someone a nice cushy check first.

well...that's what I suspect, but it's not what I can prove. i'm not finding anything on how they got this particular job working for Ed Rendell.

Weaver95

The PLCB is a thing unto itself. It transcends the governor's office, that's for sure. Of all the government operations that ought to be privatized, this one's number one. And it's just never going to happen.

I loved Pittsburgh when I lived there but I hate Pennsylvania's stupid liquor laws. If you cross the border into Ohio, you can buy booze at Giant Eagle.

CtrlAltDelete

Or New York, or New Jersey, or Delware, or Maryland.

I used to live minutes from the DE/MD border. I almost forgot what a state store was.

PA has probably the most farked up liquor laws in the country other than Utah.

As a long Pa. resident I, too, have suffered thru these awful laws. We'vde since gotten Sunday sales, and a local supermarket( Collegeville) has gotten the ok to sell beer. Times they are a changin', and only 40 years too late.

The clerks here aren't too bad, but I'm in a small town where people in general are friendly.

When I first moved here from Chicago I didn't have a car. Carrying a case of bottled beer 8 blocks isn't fun.

Every so often I visit friends in Kentucky, and as red as that state is (even Bourbon County is dry), I stop at the Liquor Barn outside of Louisville, a full-sized grocery store which specializes in selling nothing but alcohol in all of its forms.

Any state which cannot duplicate this level of laissez-faire sales policy is full of fail, and that includes my own North Carolina with its ABC stores.

The last time I had Popov I ended up laying on someone's lawn yelling in Spanish after peeing on a fire truck.

I returned to Crystal Palace for my skanky vodka needs after that, though now that I can afford proper alcohol I'm partial to Ketel One.

strangeguitar: As a long Pa. resident I, too, have suffered thru these awful laws. We'vde since gotten Sunday sales, and a local supermarket( Collegeville) has gotten the ok to sell beer. Times they are a changin', and only 40 years too late.

What supermarket in Collegeville sells beer? The Acme closed last week and the Wegmans is still being built.

What Popov always makes me think of:


/and yes that is Stephen King with weird green shiat growing on his face

What is a 'handle' in booze terms? ...would that be a liter?

Ron Huff, 50, a welder from Southwest Philadelphia who was shopping for wine last week at the liquor store at 1218 Chestnut St., agreed that setting aside money for more training "doesn't make sense" - but for a different reason.

And what type of fine wine would a welder be buying at a liquor store?

Danielsan: The clerks here aren't too bad, but I'm in a small town where people in general are friendly.

When I first moved here from Chicago I didn't have a car. Carrying a case of bottled beer 8 blocks isn't fun.

Try doing it with bums chasing after you screaming for a beer.

/atlanta

Couldn't stand PA liquor laws. I hated having to go to 3 different places just to get some liquor and beer. One place for the six packs, one place for the scotch and another for a case or keg. The damned state forced me to drink more scotch than a human needed due to the fact that the ABC store was within 300ft of my door and the others were a car ride.

Will they laugh?

soze: The last time I had Popov I ended up laying on someone's lawn yelling in Spanish after peeing on a fire truck.

I returned to Crystal Palace for my skanky vodka needs after that, though now that I can afford proper alcohol I'm partial to Ketel One.

Popov is like drinking paint thinner. Don't do it!

We used to filter cheap vodka through a Brita pitcher. Mythbusters did a show on this once. It won't make it top shelf but it will make it better.

I'll admit I but cheap vodka.
Can I tell the difference between the cheap stuff and top shelf? Yes, barely, and only when drank straight (but nobody in America drinks vodka straight).
Is the top shelf stuff worth 5 times the price of cheap vodka? Hell no.

555-FILK: What is a 'handle' in booze terms? ...would that be a liter?

1.5 liters.

Epsilon: I'll admit I but cheap vodka.
Can I tell the difference between the cheap stuff and top shelf? Yes, barely, and only when drank straight (but nobody in America drinks vodka straight).
Is the top shelf stuff worth 5 times the price of cheap vodka? Hell no.

Depends on your definition of "cheap." Smirnoff makes decent vodka, especially for mixing, and is fairly inexpensive.

My nomination for dumbest law would be the one Pennsylvania passed sometime in the Nineties that banned the sale of non-alcoholic beers to people under 21.

Epsilon: 555-FILK: What is a 'handle' in booze terms? ...would that be a liter?

1.5 liters.

A "handle" is 1.75 liters.

Remember kids, the quality of the vodak is directly proportional to the weight of the empty bottle.

Our state store has the best customer service in town. But that certainly does not make up for the ridiculous liquor laws in PA. Thank goodness I'm five miles from the NY border!

Here's my handle of choice, it isn't that cheap but worth it.

I enjoy that I can get to hard liquor without an issue, but getting beer is some kind of ritual onto god.

Knock it off, PA. Sometimes I just want a damn six-pack.

My husband about died while visiting my sister in Kentucky. He had never heard of a "dry" county before (Oldham County a few years back). He's from LA and was kinda acting like KY was an alien planet anyway. That just put the nail in the coffin.

A handle of liquor? What's next, a lid of pot?

/Silly outdated slang. Old people are so silly.

Generation_D: State controlled liquor needs to die off.


Seconded. Our state liquor stores in Washington are teh suck....high prices, limited selection, they close early, not enough locations, Only a few are open on Sunday, and not a single one sells Montecristo Rum.

To ass insult to injury, over by the cash register they have pamphlets describing "the benefits of a controlled system".

California has a lot of shiatty laws and regulations, but at least you can booze at the grocery store.

Yeah, and we're still paying to clean up the Johnstown flood with our alcohol purchases, too.

PA needs some serious reform here. I've petitioned my representative to change it, and will continue to do so.

State Liquor Mafias need to die. Ran into them back east, and there's one here in Oregon too.

Especially when they control both the warehouses and local outlets.

Where are you guys from that are complaining about getting six packs? There's sandwich shops all over the place here that sells 6 packs.

AzErNy: And what type of fine wine would a welder be buying at a liquor store?

Why shouldn't a welder enjoy a glass of wine? Not sure what you're trying to imply here.

Epsilon: I'll admit I but cheap vodka.
Can I tell the difference between the cheap stuff and top shelf? Yes, barely, and only when drank straight (but nobody in America drinks vodka straight).
Is the top shelf stuff worth 5 times the price of cheap vodka? Hell no.

I do.

/hangs head

My uncle ran a beer distributor in North Philly for a few years. Can't remember the exact address, but it was not in the most "pleasant" of neighborhoods.

Close the garage doors at night, and between the graffiti and the busted windows, you'd think the place had been abandoned for at least twenty years.

Mrstupid7: A handle of liquor? What's next, a lid of pot?

/Silly outdated slang. Old people are so silly.

Wouldn't say it is that outdated. I'm a hip college student in MA right now and we call those 1.75 liter bottles "handles"

ever hear of a "slice" in terms to pot?!

fish500: Where are you guys from that are complaining about getting six packs? There's sandwich shops all over the place here that sells 6 packs.

Sure. If you don't mind paying $13 for Corona. And it's not even the price, so much as it's knowing where to go. Only select few have those permits.

trancemission: Epsilon: 555-FILK: What is a 'handle' in booze terms? ...would that be a liter?

1.5 liters.

A "handle" is 1.75 liters.

I don't want a large drink. I want a liter of soda.

Vodak, subby. Vodak.

Mrstupid7: A handle of liquor? What's next, a lid of pot?

/Silly outdated slang. Old people are so silly.

They have handles, like a mug.

Oh, Weaver... (new window)

Generation_D: State controlled liquor needs to die off. Whatever purpose these prohibition era relics served is long since past. As a resident of a state store state, I like paying double so surly union member clerks can yell and threaten to throw me out if I get the top-shelf whiskey without asking for their special permission.

Ohio got rid of the state-run stores back in the 90's. Now, if they could just lose the 100% (yes, doubles the price) of a bottle of booze. Egregious farking sin tax.

/with a huge budget deficit, this isn't likely to happen

Florida has it's problems but the liquor laws here are not one of them. Beer at any grocery or convenience store, liquor at any liquor store. Sundays? No problem. Much better than NCs state run crap. 5000 times better than the way SC used to do it.