NYC Cracks Down On 'Air Conditioning The Sidewalk'

[Draz]

NEW YORK (AP) -- Along New York City's steamy sidewalks in the summer, there's long been a reliable respite from the heat: waves of air-conditioned comfort wafting from open doors.

Now the nation's biggest city is pushing businesses to cool it on such wastefulness. Under an expanded law that took full effect this week, most stores and restaurants could be fined $250 or more if they keep their doors or windows open while running the A/C.

New York issued 308 warnings and 19 violation notices to chain stores last year, compared to 64 warnings and zero violations in 2014, according to Consumer Affairs Department data. Inspections, conducted in response to complaints and during regular patrols, rose from about 600 to 1,500.

Both New York and Washington have found enforcement complicated because inspectors couldn't always immediately discern whether a given store met size criteria. The new laws eliminate those thresholds, while carving out exceptions for outdoor dining areas and deliveries.

Several business owners who say they make a point of closing doors have contacted the Brooklyn Chamber of Commerce with concerns about being penalized for not noticing if a delivery person or customer leaves a door open.

:facepalm

[Im Still Ballin]

This changes everything.

[nathanjizzle]

its a game changer for sure.

[imdaman99]

The best pizza places don't even have AC here :oldlol:

[Draz]

The best pizza places don't even have AC here :oldlol:
Have you been to Don Antonio? (309 West 50th Street, New York, NY 10019)

http://www.donantoniopizza.com/dinner/
http://www.donantoniopizza.com/gallery/

I work a few blocks from there and heard my co-workers saying the pizza is the best there.

[FillJackson]

:facepalm
you have a problem with saving energy?

[imdaman99]

Have you been to Don Antonio? (309 West 50th Street, New York, NY 10019)

http://www.donantoniopizza.com/dinner/
http://www.donantoniopizza.com/gallery/

I work a few blocks from there and heard my co-workers saying the pizza is the best there.
I'll put it on my to eat list :oldlol: The best I've had was at Pizza Suprema http://nypizzasuprema.com/

[NumberSix]

you have a problem with saving energy?
Yes

[Draz]

you have a problem with saving energy?
Do you own a car or taken a taxi at any point in your life? If so, don't talk "saving energy" with me or anyone else. Either you go completely green and show for it, or you attempt to and don't judge others who don't because we are all hypocrites.

These laws are the first to influence change, I won't dog on it because it'll carry over elsewhere. I just don't see why they're starting with this. It starts with hybrid cars and solar energy.

[Dresta]

This kind of pettiness is not new in NYC thanks to Bloomberg:

http://www.vanityfair.com/news/2004/02/hitchens200402


In fact, the law these days is very clear. It states that New York City is now the domain of the mediocre bureaucrat, of the inspector with too much time on his hands, of the ****-retentive cop with his nose in a rule book, of the snitch willing to drop a dime on a harmless fellow citizen, and of a mayor who is that most pathetic and annoying figure—the micro-megalomaniac.

So there are laws that are defensible but unenforceable, and there are laws impossible to infringe. But in the New York of Mayor Bloomberg, there are laws that are not possible to obey, and that nobody can respect, and that are enforced by arbitrary power. The essence of tyranny is not iron law. It is capricious law. Tyranny can be petty. And “petty” is not just Bloomberg’s middle name. It is his name.

In the space of a few hours late in November, I managed to break a whole slew of New York laws. That is to say, I sat on an upended milk crate, put my bag next to me on a subway seat, paused to adjust my shoe on a subway step, fed some birds in Central Park, had a cigarette in a town car, attempted to put a plastic frame around a vehicle license plate, and rode a bicycle without keeping my feet on the pedals at all times. I also had a smoke in a bar and at a table in a restaurant. Only in the latter two cases would I hitherto have been knowingly violating a city ordinance.

Resolving to work up an appetite by breaking a few more laws before lunchtime, I quit the car and descended into the subway. It didn’t take me long to pick a seat, to put my bag next to me, to prop my leg up and ease the pins and needles, to pause on the steps and adjust my shoe, and in general to undermine civilization as we know it. An Israeli tourist named Yoav Kashdia was recently fined $50 for nodding off between stations and implicitly occupying two seats by virtue of his slumping. (“Shalom! Welcome to New York!”) This is just as illegal if you are in an empty subway car as it is impossible during rush hour, and the joyless and literal mind now ruling City Hall is content to ignore the distinction. No, I wouldn’t put my bag or stretch my leg on the next seat when there were fellow riders standing up, but, yes, I would if I were all alone, and it’s only in the second case that I’d get a ticket. Here we approach the shriveled core of the tiny Bloombergian mind. At rush hour, my fellow passengers and my innate sense of right and wrong would discipline me (and there’d be no room for some ticket-happy inspector to see what was going on, let alone correct it). At a time when foot traffic was heavy, moreover, I wouldn’t try to sit on the subway steps. Ms. Crystal Rosario, a pregnant woman from Brooklyn who was overcome by exhaustion, made herself conspicuous and received a fine for doing just that. There was no evidence that she had actually obstructed anyone. She sat because she felt she had to, and the cop issued the ticket because … well, let’s say for the same reason a dog licks his thing. Because he could. That’s why the Morgenbesser moment keeps coming back to me.

:lol

[senelcoolidge]

I'll put it on my to eat list :oldlol: The best I've had was at Pizza Suprema http://nypizzasuprema.com/

Their pork sausage pizza is the bomb right?

[FillJackson]

Do you own a car or taken a taxi at any point in your life? If so, don't talk "saving energy" with me or anyone else. Either you go completely green and show for it, or you attempt to and don't judge others who don't because we are all hypocrites.

These laws are the first to influence change, I won't dog on it because it'll carry over elsewhere. I just don't see why they're starting with this. It starts with hybrid cars and solar energy.
This is a terrible analogy. I said wasting not using energy. I also dont park my car with the engine on all day.

Also these stores are on the same energy grid we share and reducing overall electrical consumption means less chance of a blackout.

[Sarcastic]

Their pork sausage pizza is the bomb right?

No the suprema is the best slice they make. They're good, but not best.

[Draz]

This is a terrible analogy. I said wasting not using energy. I also dont park my car with the engine on all day.

Also these stores are on the same energy grid we share and reducing overall electrical consumption means less chance of a blackout.

I understand that. But like I said.. if they really want to get shit done, it starts with the hybrid cars and pushing for solar energy.

[FillJackson]

I understand that. But like I said.. if they really want to get shit done, it starts with the hybrid cars and pushing for solar energy.
there's a long term and a short term.

And the biggest issue is not stores but office buildings