WASHINGTON--While the Senate debated what to do with the second $350 billion in bailout funds and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi pushed an $825 billion stimulus package on Capitol Hill, an optimistic exercise in micro-entrepreneurship played out several blocks away in a nondescript DC government office building.
Throughout the day, hundreds of street vendors streamed into the city's Department of Consumer and Regulatory Affairs to pick up the licenses and badges allowing them to hawk all manner of Obama-naugral memorabilia on Jan. 20.
To be sure, hometown street merchants have complained for weeks of "vendor gentrification" caused by high fees, new regulations, tedious paperwork and tough competition from of out-of-town sellers. That said, more than 700 were awarded near the parade route in and another 1,000 were assigned elsewhere in the city in three separate lotteries. Hope. Ka-ching. Change. Ka-ching. I, Barack H. Obama, do solemnly swear... Ka-ching.
"Just the excitement of Obama being president is why I'm doing this," says Shanya Evans, a high school social studies teacher from Baltimore.
Well, that and a healthy dose of capitalism. Her license to sell presidential bobble-heads, T-shirts and other tchotchkes cost $740.
"Even with the recession going on, I will make some money. I think I will triple what I paid for the license," says Evans, who is hardly a vending virgin. "During the summer we do shaved ice and smoothies."
But this is no balmy June afternoon, which is when longtime DC vendor Peggy Wright would be found selling clothing within view of the White House. "When it's 50 degrees or more, I'm Johnnie-on-the-spot."
When the mercury dips, she does business inside the Department of Veterans Affairs, "but it's going to be used as a safe house for dignitaries so I had to relocate." She got a primo space downtown to sell Obama hats and ties, key chains, sunglasses and calendars. Now she is looking for the best deal on those little warmers made specifically for hands, feet and ears. "I'm getting thousands of them."
Keith Lambert, owner of National Team Sports in Providence, has zero interest in a diversified inventory. The longtime producer of athletic memorabilia has shifted to politics with a single, three-part keepsake: an official-looking but totally fake (oops, commemorative) laminated card. One side looks like a swearing-in ticket, the other reads, "I Witnessed History" and features photos of Obama and the White House. The tag hangs from a red lanyard printed in white with "The Inauguration of the 44th President of the United States," to which has been pinned an I [heart] Obama button. Retail price? Ten bucks.
But Lambert has concerns that go far beyond product.
He may need a place to park a couple of rented motor homes, where some of his people will spend the frigid nights. He's got a reservation in a state park in Virginia, but since all bridges into DC will be closed on Inauguration Day, he'd like a safe place in the city. In addition, Lambert needs a parking lot or other space where vendors can buy his creation wholesale and load up their vehicles.
Enter Washingtonian Anthony Bowlds, who took a break from his IT career to become an ad hoc fixer, or as he puts it, "a help for vendors. I try to assist them in being able to have locations to distribute their products, and to park legally in the city."
He says has spoken with 15 wholesalers and/or manufacturers, all word-of-mouth referrals. He works on commission, which he expects to be considerable -- $40,000 to $50,000 by the time Obama actually starts running the country.
Bowlds does the math. "My estimate is that two to three million people will come here. The average person will want to take three items home. So that's 9 million items. Let's say I place 100,000 units of a manufacturer's product with vendors and I get 25 cents for each one. That's $25,000 right there."
He pauses and smiles. "They say if you believe in the dream, it will come true."
Ka-ching.
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Keith Lambert, wearing his company's $10 souvenir lanyard/button/bogus swearing-in ticket, had lots of company while waiting to pick up Inaugural vendor ID badges.
Washingtonian Anthony Bowlds, left, took a break from his day job in IT to help his brand new business associates, Keith Lambert and Shannon Issler of Providence, R.I., wholesale Obama mementoes to vendors and find parking for company trucks and 30 of their own retail sellers.
High School social studies teacher Shayna Evans from Baltimore holds her coveted vendorcredentials, one for herself, one for a helper. She'll be selling Obama souvenirs.
Longtime D.C. vendor Peggy Wright models the merch.
