Wake up and smell the coffee? Maybe not in Brooklyn.
Millions of java addicts think that the aroma of freshly roasted coffee is heavenly, but to the Department of Environmental Protection of New York City the "fugitive doors" from a 160-year-old coffee company are unlawful air contaminants.
Acting after a complaint lodged by a neighbour, the city cited Gillies Coffee of Brooklyn with a violation of the air pollution control code.
Gillies, which claims to be America''s oldest coffee company, has been in business since 1840 and employs 30 people with annual sales of about million.
"As one of the city''s oldest businesses, we hope the city wakes up and smells the coffee. Independent small businesses are the backbone of the city''s economy," Gillies Chief Executive Donald Schoenholt told Reuters.
The violation was "an emission of offensive coffee doors causing discomfort to the complainant and myself," according to an inspector who wrote the citation requiring a Gillies representative to appear before the Environmental Control Board.
Schoenholt said he was one of the first roasters to put in smoke controls on his equipment in 1952. When Gillies moved to its current location on 19th Street in Brooklyn''s South Park Slope section in 1991, Schoenholt said he installed a new roaster that was totally smoke- and door-free.
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