NYC Sues Ad Firm For Floating 'Times Square-Style' Billboards

NEW YORK — New York City filed a lawsuit Wednesday to stop a Florida advertising company from sailing splashy electronic billboards along the city's waterfront.

Miami-based Ballyhoo Media started operating in New York around October 2018 and has floated "Times Square-style" LED screens in waterways such as the Hudson and East rivers, according to the complaint filed in Manhattan federal court.

The company reportedly claims the bright signs can help its clients reach millions of people — but the city says they are an illegal "public nuisance" that endanger drivers and bothers public spaces, offices and residents.

"Our waterways aren’t Times Square. These floating eye-sores have no place on them," Mayor Bill de Blasio said in a statement.

The 13-page complaint marks an escalation of the city's legal battle with Ballyhoo. The city says it warned the company in a January letter that its billboards were illegal, but it kept operating anyway.

The suit asks the court to stop Ballyhoo from operating on the city's waterways and impose fines of $25,000 for each day that it broke zoning rules.

In a statement, Ballyhoo CEO Adam Shapiro said the company commissioned law firms to research its planned activity before it started operating and "all parties" have determined Ballyhoo is following all current laws and zoning resolutions.

"We look forward to either resolving these issues with city officials, or to the judicial determination affirming our right to continue our livelihoods," Shapiro said. "Advertising along the city’s waterways is not new activity, Ballyhoo just happens to be the newest."

Ballyhoo's barge generally travels down the Hudson River, around the tip of Lower Manhattan and up the East River to around Roosevelt Island, according to the city's complaint. The company's marketing materials tout the signs' reach to ferries, pedestrians, cars and buildings on the waterfront.

But the city argues Ballyhoo is violating 55-year-old rules that ban advertising on vessels traveling in waterways that are adjacent to residential, commercial or manufacturing areas and in view of major highways such as the FDR Drive. That makes the company liable for the hefty fines, the lawsuit says.

The ads on the video-capable screens create dangerous distractions for drivers and boat operators along with pedestrians and cyclists on busy waterfront areas, the city argues. "They also significantly degrade the view enjoyed by those using parks and other public spaces along the water and the waterways themselves, impairing the public's enjoyment of those important places," the complaint says.

The lawsuit also accuses Ballyhoo of violating a state law requiring out-of-state corporations to get authorization before doing business in New York because it has not registered with the secretary of state.

Ballyhoo looks forward to working with the city to resolve the case, Shapiro said, adding that the company is "confident that New York City will see the value and excitement we bring to the waterfront."

"Ballyhoo has proven to provide unique, one-of-a-kind experiences that has been received with overwhelmingly positive community support," Shapiro said.

But City Councilwoman Margaret Chin said many downtown Manhattan residents have called her office about the "disruptive" ads along the Hudson River. City lawmakers plan to accompany City Hall's legal action with a bill to quadruple the fine for illegal aquatic advertising to $100,000, Chin said.

"We cannot allow companies like Ballyhoo to wantonly, and illegally, pollute our waterways with massive eyesores," Chin, a Democrat, said in a statement Wednesday.