Q&A
Enforcement of the cashless establishment ban
0:35:47
ยท
73 sec
DCWP representatives explain their approach to enforcing the prohibition on cashless establishments in New York City.
- Initial focus on education when the ban took effect in 2020
- Use of cease and desist letters for first-time violators
- Escalation to inspections for repeat offenders
- Example of enforcement action against Van Leeuwen ice cream for egregious violations
- Recent incorporation of cashless ban checks into routine inspections
Julie Menin
0:35:47
What about the cashless establishments?
0:35:49
How is the agency enforcing the prohibition on cashless establishments?
Carlos Ortiz
0:36:04
So when, when the cashless ban took effect in 2020, I think our first approach there was, education first, particularly, you know, just leaving the pandemic.
0:36:14
And I I think whenever we noticed, through complainants, or our own observations that, business was violating, the cashless ban, we would begin first with cease and desist letters.
0:36:25
And then if we continued receiving, complaints, we would send out inspectors as well.
0:36:29
And in in certain cases where there were there were some pretty egregious recidivist violators of the law.
0:36:35
I think Van Leeuwen ice cream was one of them that we were able to have a a good judgment against.
0:36:40
And that was certainly our initial posture there.
0:36:41
Over the past eight months, I think we while we have seen complaints overall decrease, we have, I think, also begun incorporating, the the cashless, the cashless prohibition more and more into each of our inspections.
0:36:53
So it's something that just an inspector will look for right away, during when they're going through the inspection checklist and will issue a summons, right away if they observe a violation.