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From: "Tenant"
Subject: Scaffolds Spur Cottage Industry in Corporate Advertising
So here's something that C. Scott Stringer is doing right.
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August 21, 2006 Edition > Section: New York >
Record Numbers of Scaffolds Spur Cottage Industry in Corporate
Advertising
BY RUSSELL BERMAN - Staff Reporter of the Sun
August 21, 2006
URL: http://www.nysun.com/article/38256
Record high numbers of scaffolds across the city may be an eyesore
for pedestrians and a headache for shops under their shadow, but the
rise in sidewalk sheds underneath the scaffolds has also spurred a
cottage industry in corporate advertising.
From a plug for iPods in Greenwich Village to a Helio display in
SoHo to the Citibank sign snaking around the Flatiron building,
billboard-style ads have cropped up increasingly on protective sheds
in Manhattan and elsewhere, much to the dismay of civic groups and
elected officials.
The ads are all apparently illegal under city rules, and the
president of Manhattan, Scott Stringer, is launching a campaign to
crack down on the practice.
"We've had enough of illegal black market advertising in our city,"
Mr. Stringer said at a news conference outside the Flatiron building
yesterday.
Businesses underneath a sidewalk shed may put up a sign for their
store on the facing of the shed, but Section 27-03 of the rules
governing city agencies appears to prohibit any other advertising on
the sheds. Defining a sidewalk shed as a protective structure, the
clause states that other than the business signs, "there shall be no
information, pictorial representations, or any business or
advertising messages posted on such protective structures at
demolition or construction sites." Almost all sheds are stenciled
with the words "Post no bills" on the facing.
Citing data gathered by the Municipal Art Society in a survey of 42
illegal building and scaffold ads in the city, Mr. Stringer said 79%
of the buildings had never been issued a violation for the signage.
"There is no oversight, there is no control, and no enforcement," Mr.
Stringer said, calling the ads a "blight" that the city should treat
as a form of corporate graffiti.
The advertising ban has long been flouted, owing largely to a lack of
enforcement and the fact that the revenue generated by the ads
greatly exceeds the fines for violations. While Buildings Department
fines for illegal advertising can range from $2,500 for an ignored
first citation to $10,000 for ignored subsequent violations, one
building industry executive said a billboard-style ad on a sidewalk
shed can bring in up to $50,000 a month.
Since permits for sidewalk sheds typically run for a year, building
owners often keep them up long after repairs are completed in order
to collect revenue from the ads, officials said.
Mr. Stringer placed the blame squarely on the Department of
Buildings, but to a certain extent, the agency's hands are tied. City
officials said that under current law, the department cannot
unilaterally raise the fines for violations, and it cannot remove
most signs outright without demonstrating that they pose a threat to
public safety.
A spokeswoman for the Buildings Department, Jennifer Givner, said the
agency was considering new enforcement strategies and was open to
working with lawmakers and other officials to stiffen the penalties
for illegal advertising and to give the department more power to
remove the signs.
Ms. Givner also pointed to a new department initiative aimed at
cracking down on illegal advertising near highways and parks. Under
regulations announced last month and set to take effect this week,
the city is creating a registry for outdoor advertising companies,
which must provide a list of ads within 900 feet of a highway or 200
feet of a public park. Companies that violate the rules or that do
not register their signs within 60 days face fines of up to $25,000 a
day, which are designed to trump the likely revenue of the ads. The
city will also have the power to remove those signs and can prohibit
violators from bidding on city contracts for up to five years.
Still, the new program is unlikely to have an immediate impact on the
proliferation of apparently illegal ads in dense neighborhoods of
Manhattan and Brooklyn, where a construction boom and tighter
building-code regulations have led to record levels of scaffolding
and sidewalk sheds.
Robert Julavits, a spokesman for Citibank, which bought the ad
wrapped around the Flatiron building, said yesterday the company
would look into the matter and was committed to complying with any
restrictions.
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