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.
