NYC Waiters Can Now Legally Give You Water Without Asking
Whether still or sparkling, if a waiter at a restaurant in New York City has ever presented you a glass of water without asking if you wanted it first, they were breaking the law—until now.
A little-known statute in the Rules of the City of New York Governing and Restricting the Use and Supply of Water forbids serving water unless the guest requests it. The measure was passed in 1991 as an effort at drought prevention, but it was repealed this month in one of the Bloomberg administration's last acts. There was no real proof that the measure did anything, according to the city's Environmental Protection Department.
The New York Times goes for water puns in response. "Someone's got to scrub those law books down," Scot Costentino, co-owner of the Staten Island Goodfellas pizzeria, said. "We're very happy that the administration is taking a glass-is-half-full attitude to reviewing old regulations," said New York Restaurant Association spokesman Andrew Moesel.
The real joke's on NYC's remaining residents. In DeBlasio's New York, we'll all have to ask for water, or worse, pour our own, only furthering the burgeoning class war that started with the new mayor viciously ignoring the snow-plowing needs of the Upper East Side.
