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Councilman: Deliver Us From Menu and Flier Hell
By
Jen Chung
Published Apr 30, 2007
Modified Mar 7, 2008
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By
Jen Chung
Published Apr 30, 2007
Modified Mar 7, 2008
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Yesterday, City Council member Simcha Felder held a press conference to announce legislation to ban menus, fliers and circulars from being distributed to homes and buildings. Introduction 427 would "make it illegal to distribute any unsolicited materials to households and buildings that display a sign indicating that they do not wish to receive them." Felder's statement said:
It doesn't matter what borough or what type of building you live in, if you live in New York City, you have been inundated with mounds of unwanted circulars and fliers. It's a waste, it's mess, and it's a threat to our quality of life. To top it off, these unwanted materials often result in Sanitation violations for home and building owners.
The NY Times explains a little more about how this has hit home for Felder: Apparently Felder's mom was fined $100 by the DOS for not clearing up circulars et al. on her stoop. He said, "You shouldn’t be responsible for cleaning up someone else’s garbage."
Felder wants to fine flier-dropping folks $50. Do you think the fliers are a threat to your quality of life? Then again, sometimes delivery menus and the like do come in handy. We feel like many residents and buildings owners would love this legislation, while businesses will be unhappy. We'd like suggest a happy medium of building owners installing a plastic basket full of menus and other circulars so anyone who needs their umpteenth delivery menus can take them, but we're not sure that would ever work.
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Jen Chung
Jen Chung is a former WNYC and Gothamist editor.
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