Butter Lane, the popular cupcake emporium on Seventh Street between Avenue A and First Avenue, will be closed for the next three days thanks to the city. Co-owner Maria Baugh told me it is "due to a permitting violation for having a folding table and chairs in front of the shop." A Butter Lane staffer will be posted outside during business hours to answer any questions and give out coupons. The shop reopens Thursday.
"Obviously we're not happy with the penalty, but we plan to make the most of the down time," Baugh says. "Since they can't get paid for their regular work, we're going to pay our staff to plant flowers and do other small clean up/fix up jobs on our block during the three days."
6 comments:
Closed three days for this?!?
A bit much.
Welcome to Mayor Bloomberg's new New York. He makes Giuliani look like Tinkerbelle.
a business is never closed after one violation. This business must have received at least one previous violation that was ignored. Often it is more than one that is ignored. There is always an opportunity to negoation fine after first violation.
What is full story?
what cb said is not always true.
i typed "violation reports" for quite a while and found recommendations not to close for awful sounding "pest" problems, and closure decisions for things like the no smoking sign was not the right size. DOH is really looking for fines these days and has become somewhat foolish in their demands that have nothing to do with cleanliness, health or freshness.
Apparently a couple of months ago the Department of Consumer Affairs gave us a ticket for $100 for not having a permit for the table and chairs. None of us (owners or managers) ever saw this ticket. The second ticket is a much bigger fine and an automatic 3-day shut down. You can go try to argue your case, which my partner Pam did for hours and hours, with the risk of getting an even bigger fine and longer shut down. We had to settle for 3-days and the fine. We're happy to answer any questions--I'll check back here or you can email me at maria@butterlane.com.
i know i'm the curmudgeon and all of that, but really, tables and chairs on the sidewalk are a pain. they attract crowds and clog the way. the sidewalks are narrow and overcrowded as it is.
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