Historic pizza joints in New York who have been utilizing coal and wood-fire ovens to help create great tasting pies for their customers might be forced to provide the city a slice of their profits following a local edict that is demanding these establishments reduce their carbon emissions by a whopping 75 percent, according to a report from The New York Post.
The New York City Department of Environmental Protection — the same agency that gave Bill Murray and the boys the business in the hit film, “Ghostbusters” — has created a new set of rules and regulations that would mean the eateries that use these methods of baking would have to either fork over a ton of cash to the city government or slice away at their bottom line by finding alternative means of cooking their pizza.
“All New Yorkers deserve to breathe healthy air and wood and coal-fired stoves are among the largest contributors of harmful pollutants in neighborhoods with poor air quality,” DEP spokesman Ted Timbers went on to say in a statement delivered on Sunday. “This common-sense rule, developed with restaurant and environmental justice groups, requires a professional review of whether installing emission controls is feasible.”
The new rules would require pizza establishments that have ovens installed before May 2016 to have purchase very expensive emission-control devices. The owner of one such business in Brooklyn says that he’s already spent a staggering $20,000 for an air filtration system in anticipation of the new rules going into effect.
“Oh yeah, it’s a big expense!” Paul Giannone, the owner of Paulie Gee’s in Greenpoint, said concerning the new equipment. “It’s not just the expense of having it installed, it’s the maintenance. I got to pay somebody to do it, to go up there every couple of weeks and hose it down and you know do the maintenance.”
Giannone then stated that while the air filter is “expensive and it’s a huge hassle,” there are some positives about it as well.
“My neighbors are much happier. I had a guy coming in for years complaining that the smoke was, you know, going right into his apartment and I haven’t seen him since I got the scrubber installed,” the pizzeria owner said.
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Several other iconic pizza restaurants in the city that are going to be caught in the crossfire of the new mandate includes Lombardi’s, located 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. For these businesses, the ovens are part of their appeal to the customers they serve.
An official for NYC has stated that a total of 100 restaurants would be impacted by the rules.
A pizzeria owner who requested his identity be kept under wraps, spoke with the NY Post and stated that sensitive negotiations are now taking place with DEP officials concerning whether or not to grandfather in or exempt the dozens of coal-and-wood oven-fired pizza places from the new edict.
The man revealed that both politicians and bureaucrats need to remove their noses from their business.
“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, whose establishment features a coal-fired oven, proclaimed.
“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 stated during the interview with the Post.“And for what? You really think that you’re changing the environment with these eight or nine pizza ovens?!” the restaurateur asked.
Customers are also not happy with the mandate, informing city officials in no uncertain terms to keep their grubby paws off their slices.
“I’m all for responsible environmental practice but tell Al Gore to take one less private jet or something. Give me a break!” Brooklyn Heights resident Saavi Sharma, 32, a financier who took her parents and cousin, who were visiting from India, for their first slice of pizza at Grimaldi’s, went on to say, making a reference to the former Vice President and climate activist.
“I’ve been bragging about this pizza to my family for like five years,” Sharma revealed on Sunday. “Don’t mess with this!”
In an attempt to console his customers, Giannone of Paulie Gee’s stated that despite what many are saying, the air scrubbers will not impact the flavor or texture of their pies.
Businesses that are using the coal-and-wood-fired ovens are required by the new rules to hire an engineer to help them assess how feasible it would be to install emission control devices that would enable them to achieve the new 75 percent reduction standard.
If the report says that a reduction of 75 percent cannot be achieved, or that the emission control devices cannot be installed, the business must identify any emission controls that would reduce their emissions by 25 percent or present a good explanation for why no emission controls are able to be installed.
Restaurants will also be able to apply for a variance or a waiver, however, it is on them to provide sufficient evidence to prove their is a hardship.