Results tagged “Poland Spring”

Doesn't everyone in Williamsburg know that drinking out of a plastic water bottle (or a dated Sigg bottle) will lead to certain death*? One water consumer ordered a case of Poland Spring to the mailroom recently (is this something that people do?), only to have it stolen. The bisphenol-A has clearly gone to their head, as they skipped right over passive-aggressive and penned an aggressive-aggressive note to the thief, wishing them to choke. A ransom note, declaring the water was "fine," was posted in reply. One tenant in the building says, "This goes a long way to explaining my love/hate relationship with my neighbors."

A coalition of bottled water companies—including Nestle Waters, which owns Poland Spring, and Keeper Springs, a smaller company owned by environmental advocate Robert F. Kennedy Jr.—filed a lawsuit yesterday to challenge a new state law that would require bottled water companies to charge a 5 cent deposit fee. The complaint argues that the law violates the Constitution’s equal protection clause because it exempts drinks with sugar added, such as competitors like Glacéau, makers of Vitamin Water. Lawyers also say the deposit would violate the Constitution’s interstate commerce protections the law because it could be interpreted as prohibiting companies from selling the New York-labeled bottles in other states.

The debate about how wasteful it is to buy bottled water never seems to go away around the Big Apple (home of the #1 water around—at least in the state.) But this weekend, a reader writing into the Times' City section wanted to put a specific dollar amount on tap versus bottles. A spokesman for the Department of Environmental Protection was able to do just that, telling the paper that city tap water costs $5.99 per 100 cubic feet, eight ounces of New York water cost five one-hundredths of one cent, or $0.0005, including the cost of treating the wastewater. That makes the same size eight ounce bottle of Poland Spring check in at 2000 times the cost at one dollar. Of course picking up a bottle of New York City tap water in stores will cost you even more than that.

• Today on the Gothamist Newsmap: a large fight on Fordham Rd. and Jerome Ave. in the Bronx, police activity in the employee parking lot at JFK Airport in Queens, and a pedestrian was struck on East 57th St. and Madison Ave. in Manhattan.
• Donald Trump owns almost 20% of Brooklyn's Starrett City that his dad bought for him when he graduated from business school. He now advises lower-income residents of the development that "This is not Communist China," in response to protests against a proposed sale and probable eviction.
• New York magazine's Daily Intelligencer points to the obvious conclusion of recent trends: two Duane Reade drug stores directly across the street from one another. What, no Chase banks nested inside?
• CSI: Egypt. The Brooklyn Museum catscanned a mummified body from Egypt and analysts determined that it died a completly normal and uneventful death.
• A former East Village drug kingpin is now busy getting West Village residents high on endorphins as a personal trainer.
• New York tap water may be proclaimed as the best by Mayor Bloomberg, but the city still pays $1 million annually for Poland Spring and other delivered water.
• The city is re-opening the bike-only lane on the north side of the Manhattan Bridge. Only The Blog Knows Brooklyn notes that it's been closed since October 2006.
• And a City Council member wants Councilman Dennis Gallagher, indicted on rape charges, to resign.

Every morning, Bobby Fish parks his busted up maroon Dodge van at the edge of a Hess Express parking lot on West 207th Street. He unloads his signs and opens his Coors Light umbrella. “Bobby Fish,” the signs proclaim, “El Rey Del Ceviche.” People call him the King- it's not just his own posterboard. The King pulls a few lawn chairs out of his van and sets them on the sidewalk. Behind him, a Harlem River breezes makes plastic bags fly through the air or snag on the barbed wire coil running the perimeter of the nearby subway yards fence. Finally, Bobby Fish sets up a folding table and cutting board; he readies his cooler near the tailgate for a day’s work. Amidst all the Tupperwared fresh neon juices carted around in bicycle baskets, kids with $1 Poland Spring waters running into traffic at stoplights, and the spiral-peeled oranges in ziploc bags claptrap is Bobby Fish with the most improbable summer street food of all: the King’s cooler is filled with clams. El Rey Del Ceviche is one of the very last raw bar street vendors in New York- $1 a piece for iced, medium sized cherrystone clams on the half shell. With minimal condiments (hot sauce, lime), a few bushels, and a perpetual smile, he manages to stay busy all day.

Some high school reunions spurs thoughts of regret and schadenfreude. The 10 year high school reunion for some Regis High School alums prompted a group of classmates to attempt to ride break the record for fastest ride through the NYC subway system. Stefan Karpinski, Andrew Weir, Bill Amaosa, Jason Laska, Michael Boyle and Brian Brockmeyer teamed up to ride the subways starting yesterday afternoon at Rockaway Park station, and should be ending around 3PM or 4PM at the 241st Street stop in the Bronx, if they're on track (hee!). In order to break the record, they must stop at all 468 stations in under 26 hours, 21 minutes and 8 seconds.

With Tina Fey gone from the writers' staff to primetimier pastures and Chris Parnell, Horatio Sanz and Finesse Mitchell axed from the staff, people were wondering how this season of Saturday Night Live would stack up. And while articles calling it "Saturday Night Dead" are a mainstay every fall, Gothamist wasn't very confident given that the host would be Dane Cook, who already hosted not even a year ago! Here's our thoughts about the season premiere:

When there's a bottle, there's a way to get nervous. Two separate incidents, one underground and the other in the air, involving bottled liquids caused diversions and stoppages. A flight from Atlanta to NYC was diverted to Charlotte, NC when a flight attendant was concerned about a strange-smelling bottle of water. Or make that "water." Once the plane landed, the bomb-sniffing dogs were brought on and crew and passengers were interviewed. But nothing suspicious or hazardous was found, and the flight got back on its way three hours later. Of course, the passengers had to be re-screened, and one apparently had a "medical emergency" and went to the hospital. But all in the name of safety, no?

Alice has more helpful information on the safety of your NYC drinking water.

Yesterday, the city announced that it was investigating ways to create, trademark and license an official New York City logo in order to generate more revenue for the city. This move also involved hiring the city's first chief marketing officer, Joseph Perello. The city is also looking into ideas for the Fire Department and other areas. Gothamist is glad that the city is thinking its marketing more seriously, but also finds the marketing rhetoric being thrown about amusing. "You've got to create a special logo, 'NYC,' or some little doohickey," said City Corporation Counsel Michael Cordozo. "The letters 'NYC' can't be trademarked but when you put them together with a distinctive trademark you can sue to enforce it." Yeah, doohickey. Gothamist is pretty confident now.