propane gas grill with grill cover Outlaws in Greasy Aprons; Flouting Propane Code, New Yorkers Grill Outdoors

By KATHERINE E.FINKELSTEINJULY food ticket, 1999 Felix Norton-Towers, a realtor in Brooklyn Heights, enjoys charming city life.She lives in a brown apartment with a garden where the turtles swim in a temporary pond and the plump Roses climb up the wooden rack.Her dinner guests like this cloth.Covered garden furniture, lovesickness, especially the cuisine brought by the barbecue: by 20-Pound propane tank"This is where everything happens," she said ."Norton-When she described the stuffed chicken or even peach cobbler she had baked the last night, the tower was satisfied."My dream is: I want to cook outside."Lady, she has a headband, a gold bracelet and a drink in her handNorton-The tower is hardly in line with the image of the criminals.However, she is one of a group of New Yorkers engaged in illegal activities: barbecue with compressed gas.Two single-The length of the municipal regulations makes it almost impossible for most urban residents to barbecue within the law.BBQ on residential property using propane or charcoal and cannot be operated within 10 feet of any combustible material such as MSNorton-The wooden frame of the tower and her clothCovered furniture.The most tightly regulated fuel-advertising propane, cannot enter the city through a tunnel or a bridge at a lower level, nor can it refill storage tanks anywhere in the city.In addition, it is illegal to carry more than a pound of propane through a house or apartment.AdvertisementHow, then, to comply with the regulations and actions for a month-Smashing tanks on the terrace?"You have to bring it in by helicopter," said Fire Department spokesman Brian Dixon .".Although the department considers propane to be a serious potential fire hazard and confiscated the illegal storage of propane for commercial purposes, officials acknowledge that any blow to residential barbecues is minimal.There is no list of criminals in the city and no record of catching them.Penalties for books range from citations to fines of $10,000.This holiday weekend, when they lit the grill, many New Yorkers had only a hazy feeling about the ban.Some, like Ms.Norton-Believe they're following the law.Others, like Brad Grossman, a chiropractor, grill his guests on the silver roof of the Christopher Street building in the West Village, who knows the rules, but the desire to choose a barbecue is more intense than the fear of discovery.In the words of a dead manA television producer in his 70 s in the West, brownstone, "some laws are meant to be broken.They are on the city's terraces, fire exits, and sidewalks, and are not punished in gardens and alleys as New Yorkers grill from cauliflower slices to pickled sausages.One rare law-The enduring barbecue enthusiast, Debra Duchin, a private investigator living in the Upper East Side, was very concerned about the possibility of a fine, so she turned her propane grill into a plantation owner,Lucy Yong, a former executive food editor at Country Life magazine, usually grilling on her West 71 Street Browns, said she used charcoal instead of propane to comply with the law.Due to the conflict with the neighbors, she described the neighbors as "grumpy", when she was barbecuing in the garden, the neighbors doused her with water, and she moved the equipment to the roof.But there she was also in trouble as the grill was placed on a plastic pad that could be combustible.Every summer, the board of directors of many large cooperatives in the cityThe Op apartment building sent a stern letter telling the tenant to drop the pliers.But as the chairman of his partner's board, Bob PlanteThe op on East 24 street admits that the barbecue is still going on."This is a very abusive regulation," he said ."."I remember seeing a dozen propane barbecues myself."It's clear that many New Yorkers think these laws are just a nuisance.Last Friday night.Grossman hosted his propane-He provides fuel barbecues, flip asparagus stems and chicken breast meat for many dinner guests, and has a typical harsh assessment of the city's barbecue regulations.Please click on the box to verify that you are not a robot.The email address is invalid.Please re-enter.You must select the newsletter you want to subscribe.View all New York Times newsletters.When asked about those who ignored the rules, he said with a smile: "We really ruined the quality of life in New York City .".We are a threat to society."His guests are equally disinterested in these regulations, and they are all very willing to discuss their own barbecue habits, such as driving propane tanks through tunnels and driving them through floor-to-ceiling windows leading to the apartment terrace."Luckily we had a good fire department around the corner," said actor Steven O'Brien, who used propane barbecues on TriBeCa's wooden roof deck.Mr.Grossman interjected: "From here we can see 10 other roofs where people have been grilling.My neighbors don't care."Despite the arrogance of many New Yorkers, propane can pose a very real threat.A fire department official said that the average propane tank on the grill had the power of four explosives, and even the empty tank had enough remaining gas to blow up the house.There have been many accidents in Long Island related to propane barbecue.On 1991, a propane fire in Caumsett State Park in Suffolk County left a child in critical condition.Two teenagers in 1994The agers in Coran lit a lighter near a propane barbecue, causing an explosion.The boys survived, but almost none.Even legal activities related to city barbecues have their secret nature, most recently at T.W.Smith welding supply is located on West 59 Street, near the West Side Highway.This desolate place, decorated with the sign of "Danger: Compressed gas", is one of the shops in Manhattan where two empty propane tanks are exchanged for full cans.Especially during the summer weekend, the shops were packed with New Yorkers who unloaded empty cans from the trunk of a taxi, willing to comply with the law, but annoyed that they had to do so.Others drive to New Jersey to cheer up."I found a place somewhere on an anonymous route," said a City barbecue who borrowed a car to travel."They told me they had no propane left.I said, 'How can you do this?I rescheduled my life.The advertising agency has finally provided enough gas to make it possible to have a couple of burger dinners.The New Yorker then drove home through the Lincoln Tunnel and through the tank from his front door.Donna Karan's creative advisor, Tina Wilson, once sent a friend to New Jersey to refuel her propane tank before a dinner in the Upper West Side garden.But the friend fixed the tank in the car with his seat belt and he got stuck in a traffic jam and an hour passed by and she didn't call as promised, MadamWilson began to regret the request."I just thought," she said. "Everyone is going to have a barbecue .""Hit her from another car and she might explode."We are constantly improving the quality of text archives.Please send feedback, error reports, and suggestions to archid_feedback @ nytimes.com.A version of the article appears on page 1001017 of the national edition of July 4, 1999, titled: criminals wearing greasy aprons;New Yorkers grill outdoors and defy the propane code.