Happy Holidays
Restaurant & Caterers
Family Owned
& Operated
Since 1978
4242th Anniversary
Celebrating 42 YEARS OF Tradition
We have Gluten Free Pizza and Pasta
Cauliflower Gluten Free Crust Pizza
and Vegan Cheese...
Open Christmas Eve & New Year’s Eve
Till 7pm
Open New Year's Day ALL DAY... and
Delivering!
All Major Credit Cards Accepted
2020 BE STOFBK .COM
Best Pizza
OPEN
7 DAYS
COURIER L 6 IFE, DEC. 18–24, 2020 BR
A good sign
City announces reforms to store
sign-permitting process
Benz Jewelers owner Freddie Benz paid a $6,000 fi ne in 2018 and purchased a new sign after
an anonymous caller reported his business to the city for having placards without a permit.
File photo by Steve Solomonson
BY BEN VERDE
Roughly two years after
a bevy of Brooklyn
businesses were hit with
steep fi nes for boasting
non-compliant signs
above their storefronts,
the Department of Buildings
has released a slew
of recommended reforms
to the permitting
process that will reduce
headaches for small
shops struggling amid
the pandemic-related recession.
“We are always looking
for opportunities
to better serve our fellow
New Yorkers,” said
Buildings Commissioner
Melanie La Rocca. “Cutting
red tape and streamlining
enforcement will
help support small businesses
across the city.”
Authorities slapped
dozens of businesses
across the city with
thousands of dollars in
fi nes in 2018 after anonymous
tipsters called in
complaints to 311 about
their storefront signage
— with the vast majority
logged in Brooklyn,
at 1,046 of a total 1,890.
Fines for sign violations
start at $6,000 and can go
up to $15,000.
The violations
stemmed from a little
known 1968 law requiring
businesses to
apply for permits to install
signs larger than
six square feet, which
was designed to prevent
signs from falling and
injuring pedestrians.
The crackdown led
to widespread outrage
from the business community,
which saw the
regulations as an unnecessary
and arbitrary
overreach to burden already
heavily-regulated
entrepreneurs.
In an effort to relax
and reexamine the situation,
the DOB announced
that they would institute
a moratorium on sign enforcement
until Feb. 9,
2021 — giving them time
to study and implement
better rules governing
the storefront placards.
In its report, which
was released on Dec. 16,
the DOB’s assembled
task force recommended
a number of strategies
to prevent future onerous
tickets — including
changes to the permit
process, addressing 311
abuse, and grants to help
business owners with
compliance.
The report recommended
installation of
a dedicated Department
of Buildings liaison, in
concert with the Department
of Small Business
Services, to work with
business owners as they
navigate the sign application
process.
The Department
should also, the report
argues, keep the current
moratorium in place until
the task force’s other recommendations
are fully
implemented — giving
businesses time to adjust,
and make use of the newly
provided resources.
Most notably for businesses
with unknowingly
non-compliant signage,
the report demands that
the Department implement
a warning system,
where business owners
will receive a six-month
period to fi x the signs before
any fi nes are levied,
rather than be punished
immediately.
La Rocca, who took
the reins atop the Buildings
Department in May
of 2019, “fully endorsed”
the task force’s recommendations,
and promised
expediency on giving
small businesses
clarity to avoid monetary
fi nes amid the coronavirus
related recession.
“We fully endorse the
recommendations made
in this report and will
work diligently to put
them in place,” she said.
7704 5th Avenue
Brooklyn, NY 11209
Tel: (718) 680.5405
BayRidgePizza.com
WE OFFER BEER & WINE WITH DINNER & LUNCH
CATERING FOR ALL OCCASIONS
FREE DELIVERY & CURBSIDE PICK UP
Follow us on instagram and facebook
/BayRidgePizza.com