February 26, 2008
West Village Residents Heated Over Y-3 Store
Yohji Yamamoto's recently opened Y-3 store at 317 West 13th Street in the West Village is upsetting some locals. One tipster writes in:
The idiots at the new Y-3 store on 13th street leave the front door (a garage door) open all day long. It is 30 degrees outside, yet that strip of the sidewalk is toasty warm.While a toasty warm sidewalk may sound cozy, it shows the wasteful energy practices of the store. Council member Gale Brewer introduced a bill last year that would forbid commercial buildings to keep their doors or windows open while running air-conditioners. If caught doing so, the establishment would be fined $200 per window and door left opened. This would also pertain to those stores luring cold customers in with their heat.
We've left a message for Brewer and contacted Adidas (the store is in their jurisdiction) regarding this, and will update when we hear back. The tipster called the shop to complain, but was told "it was by corporate mandate that they have decided to leave the door wide open."
Photo via Racked.
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This is a non-story.
If you're really concerned about saving energy, stop up to Astoria Boulevard, where around 50 cars idle for who knows how long every morning to avoid the street sweeper and parking restrictions. Adios, ozone layer.
Yeah it's a non story but today has been BORING BORING BORING times a billion for new today.
In summer MOST places in soho have this "open door" practice...it is obcene.
non-story? i personally think it's very important. i think there needs to be more whistle-blowing, the fine should be year-round, applying to heat as well as AC. and really, the fine should be more like $200 for every square foot of the opening.
Agree with janelle...
now I'm shutting down my computer...
How else are dumb rich people to know that overpriced, overhyped goods are for sale inside?
ugh i hate "community activists." will this "tipster" let us into her house and critique all of her non-green practices?
please.
they pay own rent and their own energy bill, i dont see why its any of the city's fucking business if they decide to leave their door open.
I also object to the headline stating that West Village "residents" are upset. So far it looks like it's just this one woman. Or has gothamist received other complaints?
Really?
This seems pretty simple. Y-3 pays for their heat. Y-3 wants to bring customers into their store. Y-3 decides that extra money/foot traffic from leaving door open is more than the cost of the heat, that they pay for.
They are using something they paid for, in a way that they think is best. If you think you know better, great. If you think you know better and that justifies you telling other people what to do, I'll point you to Abraham Lincoln's "No man is good enough to govern another man without that other's consent."
So you have a couple of choices: 1) increase the cost of heat to reflect the "real" ecological cost, 2) teach everyone not to respond to open doors, 3) criminalize and waste valuable inspector time that could be spent actually checking up on health & safety violations.
Hint: One of these options might actually work.
Oh, the horror of keeping your door open.
Some people really don't have anything better to do, eh?
just luv how the city council is writing laws for stoopid shit like this. They should abolish the city council and put most every practical change to the law to the public to vote, that would closer to 'democracy' than this totalitarian crap we have now.
Even though they pay for their own energy, that energy still has to be generated. It's a grotesque abuse of wealth. These guys can heat the building with the doors wide open, while families in the same city huddle around the oven for warmth. It's about community activism. But that's an oxymoron in NYC.
Ah, another novel use of the Algore argument: One cannot speak about environmental matters unless you live in a cave with no electricity.
It's conspicuous consumption, just like people driving ginormous SUVs in a city with no dirt roads or large hills, limited available parking, and expensive gas.
People will always find something dumb to complain about. Old school NYC, man.
I personally agree with Jen S. And I don't think you'd have to go to Astoria to see this. Maybe we should prioritize the tickets we're going to give.
Complaining about a store keeping its door open hardly qualifies as "speaking on environmental matters" -- what a joke and disservice to true green practices.
I still demand Gothamist clarify the headline to reflect that only one "tipster" -- not multiple residents -- complained.
Who is Yohji Yamamoto and what is a Y-3 store?
You got the right-of-reply thing halfway working on this non-story, but a little context might be helpful.
Shop Leaves Door Open, news at 11. Bitching about this is why some companies think going paperless qualifies them to win an award for going green.