NYC official Donovan Richards defends war on coal, wood-fired pizzerias
Don’t slice me up!
The lawmaker responsible for passing the 2015 law requiring pollutant-spewing coal-and-wood-fired pizzerias to dramatically curb emissions said Mayor Eric Adams should enforce the controversial edict.
That would be Queens Borough President Donovan Richards, who was then a councilman who authored the bill.
“Tell the pizza lobby please don’t slice me up. I’m not trying to take their dough. I want them to be able to roll longer,” Richards quipped.
More seriously and lost in the furor, he said, is that pizzeria workers and owners — as well as pie-loving customers — are breathing unhealthy particulate matter every day.
“We’re talking about the wildfires and bad air from Canada? Workers with these coal-and wood-oven fired pizzerias are breathing in a wildfire every day,” Richards said.
He said the City Hall and the Department of Small Business Services should help impacted pizzerias comply with the rule, which requires the installation of air filtration devices to slash particulate emissions up to 75%.
“We’re not trying to take away a slice from the business. We’re not trying to put people out of business,” Richards said.
“But you can’t put a price on your life. We also don’t want to put people out of the business of life.”
The Post first reported Sunday on the new pizza emissions rules drafted by the city Department of Environmental Protection to comply with Richard’s law.
Some of New York’s oldest and iconic pizza joints — that pride themselves on having their pies baked in coal-and-wood-fired ovens — are facing the heat over the new strict emissions mandate.
One pizzeria owner, Paul Giannone of Paulie Gee’s in Greenpoint, said it cost him $20,000 to put in an air filtration system.
The pie-making eateries include Lombardi’s in Little Italy, Arturo’s in Soho, John’s of Bleecker Street in Greenwich Village, Macoletta in Astoria, Patsy’s in Turtle Bay and the Upper West Side, Paulie Gee’s in Greenpoint, Grimaldi’s near the Brooklyn Bridge and Totonno’s in Coney Island.
Adams also is also getting pressure to provide waivers or variances to under 100 eateries that use coal and wood-fired ovens, which could also include matzah bakeries.
The proposed rule allows a restaurateur to apply for a hardship waiver.
But the pizzeria must provide evidence from an architect’s report to prove that it can’t comply with the mandate.
Councilman Joe Borelli (R-Staten Island), the Republican minority leader, said he’s been in contact with the mayor’s office about providing a “carve out” for impacted pizzerias and suggested a compromise is getting baked in the oven.
He said any such rule should be applied prospectively, not retroactively, to protect the business of famous pizzerias using coal and wood fired baking methods for decades.
