Before we get into the pizza news, check out the start of a new series over at Glibertarians!
Now then: It seems government is determined to suck the joy out of everything. Now they’re coming after pizza.
“They just don’t want people to be happy,” said Florida governor and Republican presidential candidate Ron DeSantis over a slice of authentic New York City pizza last month. “They,” in this case, were officials in New York City’s Department of Environmental Protection, who had recently proposed a regulation that could cost the city’s traditional pizzerias considerable dough.
The proposed rule requires establishments that use coal- and wood-fired ovens to install new air-filtration systems. The ostensible reason is to reduce what the department describes as “harmful pollutants” by 75 percent. The systems cost about $20,000 per unit, require a city-approved feasibility study, and need regular maintenance once installed.
One of the key tenets of leftists is that they are horrified at the very notion that someone, somewhere, is enjoying themselves doing something they don’t approve of. But seriously? Pizza?
This new stupidity is part of a longer policy trend that is killing Big Apple businesses:
Other opponents are more confrontational. The day after the regulation was announced, conservative artist and New York City native Scott LoBaido tossed 48 slices of pizza at City Hall, declaiming “Give us pizza, or give us death!” LoBaido added: “Destroying small business—that’s what this city keeps doing.”
The numbers suggest that LoBaido has a point. New York City leads the nation in business closures, with some 26,000 having disappeared between March 2020 and April 2022. Larger corporations still based in New York have instituted potentially permanent work-from-home policies or relocated personnel to places with friendlier tax, regulatory, or cost-of-living profiles. About half of New York’s commercial real estate remains vacant. But many small businesses, including pizzerias, don’t have the luxury of leaving town.
The Left seems determined to continue shitting where they live, with the primary result being that there will be shit all over the place. In some leftist enclaves, that is literally true.
At this point it’s hard to see a way out of this for our major cities. They keep putting in stupid policies, they keep purposely driving the productive away, they keep coddling the criminal element, and the few remaining people who vote keep voting the same lunatics back in charge of the asylums. I think things are going to get worse before they get better.
Get out of the cities!
