NYC Nickels-and-Dimes Businesses With $820 Million in Petty Fines
$300 for a scratched cutting board
It's a fine mess.
The city continues to blitz merchants with ridiculous fines — raking in cash for scuffed cutting boards, too-short napkins and failure to recognize the medicinal properties of ChapStick.
"It's not about protecting the consumer or the food. This is a money racket for the city," said Declan Morrison, owner of Blackwater Inn in Forest Hills, Queens.
A Health Department inspector recently spent several hours looking for ticket-worthy violations, before spotting five thermometers in the pub's refrigerator.
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