Results tagged “airconditioning”

The Natural Resources Defense Council's New York Urban Program Director Eric Goldstein (that's a mouthful) has gone undercover to see what Manhattan retail stores are blasting their air conditioning with open doors to lure the customer inside. This is illegal, of course, and as Goldstein points out, while "the issue isn't tops on the national environmental agenda... it does serve as something of a symbol of shameless wasting of fossil fuels by some of our fellow citizens."

It's summertime in the city, whether or not the weather's caught up yet, and it's likely you are currently sitting in a freezing cold air-conditioned office. Yesterday NY1's Pat Kiernan Twittered about a USA Today graphic that claimed "2/3 of Americans say air conditioning a 'necessity'," which actually seems slightly low.

The City Council voted by an overwhelming margin to pass the bill requiring chain stores to shut their doors when their air conditioners are running, leaving many small business unhappy. Cookie Falack, the owner of six Cookie's clothing stores called it "anti-business" and claimed that when they closed their doors earlier this summer, business went down almost 25 percent. But Mayor Bloomberg is expected to sign the green initiative, saying "We are trying to take some reasonable measure to reduce energy consumption at a time when the systems are most strained."

Last year City Councilwoman Gale Brewer proposed a bill that would fine establishments $200 per open door/window in air conditioned spaces (as well as heated spaces in the winter), the bill wasn't fully backed by the Bloomberg administration and never saw the light of day...until now! The NY Post reports that the environmentally friendly bill is now supported by Bloomberg and "is expected to win council approval tomorrow."

Underground there are shootings and stabbings and the subway stations may just generally be in a state of disaster, but at least the MTA can guarantee you a cool ride on its city buses. A study conducted by Transit Workers just released shows that New York City buses stay cooler on a more consistent basis than many other cities. The study showed that buses did not have working A/C less than 4 percent of the time, as compared to an average of 10 percent for cities nationwide. The most consistently cool buses were in Queens and Manhattan, possibly making a crosstown ride with your Unlimited the cheapest way to beat the heat.

How has the summer been treating straphangers underground? Allegedly, the subway system's air conditioning is cooling everyone off...everyone except those taking the E train.

Moviegoers who tried to beat the heat by packing a matinee screening of The Dark Knight this weekend at the Park Slope Pavilion were sorely disappointed. Gowanus Lounge has some scuttlebutt from the Brooklynian message board, where a picture of oppressive, non-air conditioned hell has emerged: “It must have been 90 degrees in that hot box for the entire length of the movie. Everyone was sweating profusely and downing tons of water. Afterward a mob scene ensued with people loudly complaining – all to no avail. The best excuses from the ‘management’ – ‘I just work here’ and ‘there were too many people.’” Another person corroborates: "A staff member complained about not having any AC to ME — a customer."

The NY Times columnist Clyde Haberman is annoyed about shops that keep their air-conditioned stores' doors wide open and found other New Yorkers who share that gripe. One downtown resident was told by a Soho clothing store that the open door was "company policy," so the outraged resident called the store's main office, where someone "said they had a ‘green team’ forming."

Forget about leaving doors open to attract customers with air conditioning and heat, back in 1934 there was a vision of having air-conditioned sidewalks! In another article from the past, the idea is explored.