This is what would happen in Chicago if the city ever tried to do something this stupid. I’m shocked they haven’t.
The New York City Alliance will fight to stop the planned new regulations on pizzerias that use coal and wood-fired ovens. From The New York Post:
Lobbyist and self-described pizza fanatic Brad Gerstman said Wednesday he’s created the “New York City Pizza Alliance” with fellow lawyer Nina Marinaro and pie makers to block “a concerted effort to undermine and suppress the coal and wood-fired pizza business.”The city Department of Environmental Protection has drafted new rules that would order eateries using the decades-old baking method to slice particulate emissions by up to 75%.The rule targets coal-and-wood-fired ovens installed before May 2016 and restaurateurs said it would cost at least $20,000 to install air filtration systems to dramatically curb smoky emissions.
Leslie, our environmental genius, noted that the crackdown would likely cause more carbon emissions.
Mayor Eric Adams gave a wishy washy response when asked about the proposed rules:
“Everyone likes pizza! You see that pie in front of you, you start to get happy,” said Adams, who faced the fire while responding to a Post report on the city’s green crackdown on pizzerias during an unrelated press conference Monday.“But let’s be clear, every toxic entity that we remove from our air is adding up to the overall desire to deal with shrinking our carbon footprint,”
The New York Post mentioned the rule would impact fewer than 100 joints in the city. Those include “Lombardi’s in Little Italy, Arturo’s in Soho, John’s of Bleecker Street in Greenwich Village, Patsy’s in Turtle Bay and the Upper West Side and Grimaldi’s near the Brooklyn Bridge.”
One person told The Post the government needs to mind its own business. These people know how to make a proper pie:
“This is an unfunded mandate and it’s going to cost us a fortune not to mention ruining the taste of the pizza totally destroying the product,” the restaurateur, who has a coal-fired oven, fumed.“If you f—k around with the temperature in the oven you change the taste. That pipe, that chimney, it’s that size to create the perfect updraft, keeps the temp perfect, it’s an art as much as a science. You take away the char, the thing that makes the pizza taste great, you kill it,” he claimed.“And for what? You really think that you’re changing the environment with these eight or nine pizza ovens?!” the restaurateur added.
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