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Read the press release here.

Apple Store's Neighbor Fined $300 After iPhone 6 Fanatics Leave Mess

By Danielle Tcholakian | September 29, 2014 8:46am
 A store was fined for garbage left by people waiting in line for the iPhone 6 outside the SoHo Apple Store.
iPhone 6 Crowds Leave Cardboard Behind
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SOHO — A boutique next to the Apple store on Prince Street was ticketed for $300 by the city after people who camped out awaiting the release of the new iPhone 6 dumped trash on their doorstep.

Kisan, 125 Greene St., was given a ticket for "loose rubbish" the morning of Sept. 20, because of cardboard boxes strewn in front of their property. The in-house security guard at the store, Jamal Johns, said he saw the people waiting on line at the Apple store rummaging through garbage on the street in search of cardboard to sleep on.

He even took photos of them, worried that the garbage boxes would end up in front of the store.

"[The ticket's] not a big deal on our end, but we shouldn't have to pay that," he said. "That's an employee's wages for two days here. That's not cool."

In an email, Kisan's owners said they plan to bring the ticket to the Apple store when they return from a business trip in Paris. The Department of Sanitation said property owners are responsible for the area in front of their property, and that property owners who feel they have been given a summons erroneously can contest the summons before the Environmental Control Board.

Community leaders anticipated the lines being treacherous for local residents and businesses ahead of the release of the new phone.

Community Board 2 vice chairman Robert "Bo" Riccobono wrote an email to Apple "Store Leader" David Hunt on Sept. 19, suggesting the store organize its lines in different directions each day rather than always north on Greene Street and then east on Houston Street. Riccobono suggested trying to guide the lines east or west on Prince Street and south on Greene.

"It is not fair to torture the same residents and businesses every day and night," he wrote.

Riccobono noted that the retail tenants of two buildings he owns lost business when customers couldn't maneuver through the crush of people blocking their doors. Four other people were copied on the email, including a Community Affairs officer from the NYPD's First Precinct and a representative from the Manhattan Borough President's office.

Johns said the crowds didn't affect Kisan in that way, but other stores weren't so lucky.

"We're on the opposite side of the street, so it wasn't too bad on our end, but on the other side," Johns said, "they just had people in front of the stores the whole time, it was just obstruction."

"We had managers from their stores coming into our stores, talking about petitions," he added.

Nearly a full week later, Hunt responded saying that the lines had been kept inside the store since Sept. 21, and claiming someone from the Paul Smith store called him on Sept. 24 to praise the Apple store's efforts.

"Let me know if you need any additional follow-up at this point, from what I am hearing this was the fastest transition back to regular business so far," Hunt wrote in the email dated Sept. 25.

A fuming Riccobono replied less than an hour later, sarcastically thanking Hunt for getting back to him six days later.

"The fact is that Apple management well knew what the situation would be (from past experience) and did little to relieve it," Riccobono wrote. "It is not fair to subject the community to this kind of harassment for promotional purposes."

Neither Hunt nor Apple's press relations office responded to requests for comment.