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Sidewalk Sign Prohibition is <em>History</em>
By
John Del Signore
Published Jan 10, 2008
Modified Mar 7, 2008
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By
John Del Signore
Published Jan 10, 2008
Modified Mar 7, 2008
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Brooklyn bars and restaurants rejoice: you can once again put your sandwich board signs on the sidewalk without fear of tickets from the Department of Sanitation! Your free and effective method for seducing customers with daily specials and clever jokes about drinking the pain away is now perfectly legal. Of course, this does not give you permission to lose all restraint and play music or let people dance.
Last fall a crackdown on the signs led to such establishments as Park Slope’s excellent Community Bookstore and Brooklyn Heights’ delicious Zaytoons getting slapped with tickets from the Department of Sanitation, who was acting on a rarely enforced law intended to keep the sidewalks clear. Brownstoner reports that Councilmember David Yassky leaned on Sanitation commissioner John Dougherty a few weeks ago and, lo and behold, Dougherty “agreed it was ridiculous.”
Now businesses are free to go nuts with the signs again, but on commercial streets only. And those who got hit by the crackdown will see their tickets dismissed, with everyone in Brooklyn living happily ever after in the promised land of free umbrellas and bar bocce.
Tagged
brooklyn
brooklyn heights
community
david
david yassky
department of sanitation
heights
John Dougherty
park slope
sidewalk signs
tickets
John Del Signore
Originally from the Albany area, John Del Signore has called NYC home since 1995. In addition to his thousands of meticulously-crafted bespoke blog posts for Gothamist, his writing has also been published in The Awl, Deadspin, The Nervous Breakdown, and performed at The Brick Theater in Brooklyn.
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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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