It’s one of the more bizarre habits of city retailers, and one that city officials have inveighed against for years: businesses propping their doors open in the sweltering summer to pump air conditioning onto the city streets.
But not one New York City business has been fined for running air conditioning with open doors since 2019, according to an analysis of city data by Gothamist.
A 2015 law fines businesses that leave their doors or windows open while running their air conditioners, and repeat offenders can be fined as much as $1,000. The measure was passed amid increasing alarm over the city’s contributions to climate change — buildings account for roughly 70% of New York’s greenhouse gas emissions.
The last time the city issued a violation for spilling cold air outside was in October 2019, when it fined a Lindt chocolate shop in Midtown, according to a database of consumer affairs violations.
The city’s Department of Consumer Affairs and Worker Protection, which is charged with enforcing the law, blames New Yorkers for not complaining enough.
“While the pandemic pause has been lifted, DCWP’s enforcement of the air conditioning law is complaint-based,” said Michael Lanza, a departmental spokesperson. “We urge anyone who observes businesses operating air conditioning with their doors or windows open, to contact 311.”
The department’s response baffled lawmakers.
“It’s a law. It needs to be enforced, whether people are complaining about it or not,” said Councilmember Gale Brewer, who originally championed laws against blasting air conditioners on the street in 2008.
According to the Office of Technology and Innovation, 311 changed its coding of air conditioning law complaints in June 2019. Although complaints have tapered since the pandemic, they still come in.
“I think people probably don’t know about the law,” Brewer said. “You still have to obey the law.”
“There needs to be a lot more education around this,” said Queens Borough…
Read the full article here
Leave a Reply