Merchant leaders and Business Improvement District executive directors are breathing a sigh of relief. The Department of Transportation has backed away from an idea to tax the groups that fly colorful banners from utility poles to attract shoppers.
The quarterly tax would have totalled $200 per block, per year.
The DOT scraped its idea when BID and merchant associations members expressed great concern and argued that the tax would bring the banners down.
“There is no banner permit fee proposal at this time,” DOT spokesman Seth Solmonow said. “The public hearing on this issue has been canceled.”
The hearing, originally scheduled for Wednesday, January 20, would have allowed for public comment on the proposal. The tax would have been included in the city’s official rulebook and would have been applied when groups wanted to “install, fix, place, affix or attach” any banners to DOT equipment.
“They claimed that [the tax] would cover administrative costs,” John Bonizio, president of the Association of Merchants and Business Professionals of Westchester Square, scoffed. “The city is banging us merchants over the head.”
White Plains Road BID executive director Larry Prospect joined a coalition of BID leaders opposed to the proposal. Such banners are already well-regulated and insured, Prospect argued.
“I talked to all of the local BID [executive directors] and they were all upset,” Prospect said. “[On White Plains Road], we have about five blocks of banners. We’re already required to renew our permits every three months. Last year we had to insure our banners and that cost us $250.”
There are other banner-related expenses and hassles, Prospect noted. Groups are allowed only 24 hours to fix banner problems and are subjected to fines of$150 per day after that.The city allows only a handful of firms to install and repair the banners, Prospect said.
On E. Tremont Avenue, where the Throggs Neck Merchants Association plans to hang 20 blocks of banners, merchants have already been frustrated by city rules. The TNMA has had to list the addresses where each of its 120 signs will be installed.
The tax would have set the TNMA back $5,000, more than it has, president John Cerini said. The group would have passed the cost on to its members or scrapped the promotion altogether, despite having already purchased the the banners for more than $20,000.
Reach reporter Patrick Rocchio at 718 742-3393 or procchio@cnglocal.com
