Krispy Kreme Doughnuts or Donuts
Krispy Kreme doughnuts flooded my garden with the overwhelming smell of sugar and grease. So, I took it to The New York Times. Writer Anthony Ramirez did the accurate write-up. Thank you, Anthony!
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Trivial Seque: I have two older sisters who were born early. I was three weeks late so my parents assumed I was a boy. The name they’d picked out was Anthony. Mom told me, “We were going to call you Tony.” When I popped out as a girl, I was named after my father’s mother. In Hebrew, my name means “a gift”
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Okay, back to the saga of Krispy Kreme doughnuts or donuts, depending on how you like to spell them, brought unnecessary trouble.
Dorri Olds was interviewed by The New York Times. Olds was also featured on NY1-TV.
Neighborhood Report: Chelsea
by Anthony Ramirez
To their fans, Krispy Kreme doughnuts are to ordinary doughnuts what the Garden of Eden is to apple orchards. When the neon ”Hot Now” sign lights up, signaling that a fresh batch is emerging from the doughnut machine, passers-by crowd in and cars double-park out front.
Chelsea Gardens vs. Krispy Kreme
But to the residents of Chelsea Gardens, the apartment complex next door to the doughnut shop at 265 West 23d Street, living cheek by jowl to Krispy Kreme is anything but paradise. The constant whirring and clacking of Krispy Kreme’s air-conditioning and heating equipment disturbs sleep, residents say, because the shop bakes 24 hours a day.
Despite an exhaust vent that turns east, away from Chelsea Gardens, a strong westerly wind blows doughnut fumes toward the apartment complex.
Dorri Olds Challenges the Donut Makers
The doughnuts aren’t so great, either, claims one Chelsea Gardens resident. Dorri Olds, a graphic designer who works at home, has an apartment overlooking Krispy Kreme. “It’s the smell of oil, grease and sugar,” she said. ”I took a bite out of a Krispy Kreme and spit it out, it was so horrible, like a sponge dipped in grease.”
In the spring and summer, Olds said, the community garden is especially hard hit. ”Our tulips! Our chrysanthemums! Our crocuses!” she exclaimed. ”They smell of doughnuts!”
Edward C. Dew, 41, an architect whose apartment also faces Krispy Kreme, likes the doughnuts but is still disturbed. ”I loved them as a kid because I grew up in the South,” Mr. Dew said of Krispy Kreme, a franchised chain that is based in Winston-Salem, N.C. ”But this store is just driving me crazy.” He said he and other neighbors have been lobbying Krispy Kreme for changes since last July. He said he sold his co-op apartment to a neighbor because of the odor and noise and will move soon.
“The City Department of Environmental Protection has fined Krispy Kreme more than $1,000 for violations involving noise and odors.”
— the New York Times
New York City vs Krispy Kreme
The City Department of Environmental Protection has fined Krispy Kreme more than $1,000 for violations involving noise and odors. Howard Lev, a co-owner of the Krispy Kreme store, said he was trying to make adjustments. ”We’re not ignoring it,” he said. ”But it’s my fault that I don’t call the people at Chelsea Gardens every week to tell them what I’m doing.”
Mr. Lev said that when the weather warms, he plans to put more acoustic barriers around the rooftop equipment. He also said that he plans to ask Chelsea Gardens’ management for permission to route the shop’s exhaust along the wall of one of the apartment buildings so the odor is discharged on the roof.
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Added by Dorri Olds: We chased ’em out. It was replaced by a Boston Market chicken chain that uses way too much salt. Thankfully, though, our garden was never attacked by a rancid waft from that franchise.
See also: Chelsea Gay Bashing
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”That’s Howard,” Ms. Olds said. ”He keeps saying he will, but he doesn’t.”
City officials and the owners of Krispy Kreme are scheduled to speak with neighborhood residents on March 18 at a meeting with a committee of Community Board 4.
Meanwhile, Mr. Lev said that in addition to the Chelsea store, and one he has in Harlem, he plans to open stores in midtown, Greenwich Village and the Upper West Side. ANTHONY RAMIREZ