Sign Fines Are 'Big Danger' To Small Business, Owners Say

CYPRESS HILLS, BROOKLYN — Brooklynites are calling for the dawning of a new awning.

Business owners who have been fined thousands of dollars for problems with their awnings asked City Hall for legislation that would protect them from surprise violations. But city officials argue the strict building codes protect New Yorkers from potentially dangerous falling signs.

Cypress Hills shop owners testified Tuesday at a City Council Housing and Buildings Committee meeting that sign and awning permit violations have become an increasing burden in their neighborhood. Since 2015, more than 100 business owners around the Fulton Street Corridor have been charged between $5,000 and $20,000, a price owners said they can ill-afford to pay.

“These fines are very high and represent a big danger to our small businesses,” said Chandra Haram, the owner of Mellor's Drug Store at 3343 Fulton St. “We are struggling to pay our rent.”

Chief Samsair, the owner of Roti on the Run at 3140 Fulton St., testified that he was fined $5,000, without warning, for the red neon sign that has been on the corner for more than a decade. Samsair was forced to remove the sign and is now worried about his business, he told the committee.

“We have lost a lot of customers due to the fact that our clients think that the store is closing or that we are out of business,” Samsair said. “We have been dealing with this situation for over a year, but the regulation is very complex, time-consuming and very expensive.”

The group asked the committee to approve legislation that would mandate the city repay fines to owners who recently fixed their signs, provide awning rule training to small business owners, and study the efficacy of current awning and sign regulations.

But Patrick Wehle, an assistant commissioner with the Department of Buildings, called the proposed law "problematic," and stressed the importance of enforcing strict building codes.

"These regulations exist to protect people from dangerous and illegally installed signs," he said.

Wehle also noted that refunding fines that had been correctly issued was neither "commonplace" nor "appropriate."

"Running a comparable program for a subset of signage violations would be a costly endeavor with potentially limited response," Wehle said.

Brooklyn city councilman Rafael Espinal, who sponsored the bill on the store owners’ behalf, responded that the fees — which are decided in Office of Administrative Trials and Hearings courtrooms and paid to the Department of Finance — targeted small business owners that provide vital services to their neighborhoods.

“We should be supporting these entrepreneurs and helping them thrive," Espinal said, "rather than pushing them to extinction over petty 'gotcha' fines that are easily avoidable with the right education.”

Photo caption: Would-be patrons believe Roti on the Run is closing because owner Chief Samsair was told to take down his red neon sign, the Cypress Hills business owner testified. Photo courtesy of GoogleMaps/Oct. 2017