John Stossel's Give Me a Break

June 20, 2003 -- Businesses are taking down perfectly good awnings in parts of New York City. Why? Because the owners were told the signs are illegal.

What's wrong with them? They don't have any nasty words on them, or obscene pictures. The words on them are simply too big, or in some cases they have too many words — or the wrong words.

What are some of the illegal words on signs? Phrases like "Free Delivery" … even business phone numbers are illegal. And authorities are writing tickets.

"It doesn't make any sense," Sal, a store owner, told us.

"I didn't know a law like this exists. … I thought it's a joke. And I laughed in his face " said Eli, another store owner.

But it was no joke. He must pay $2,500 because his sign said things like "Internet." He says for this, people escaped the Communists?

"What does it remind us? Russia," Eli said.

It is written in the law that only the name and address of a business are permitted on awnings. It's ridiculous … this is New York City.

The city is famous for its chaotic, colorful, intrusive signs.

They ‘Destroy a Community’

In most parts of town, no one enforces the law, but be glad you don't own a store on the block known as Little India.

It used to be filled with colorful signs. But the "awning police" swept through and owners had to tear down their expensive awnings right away to avoid fines.

The city says it's just enforcing the law in response to complaints. Who would complain? Well, members of civic groups, like Mary Sarro.

Sarro said, "Those ugly, ugly signs totally destroy a community."

Another "anti-awning activist," Gene Kelty, said, "I think you're going to have more car accidents while everybody's trying to read all the signs."

Kelty admits that he doesn't know if the signs have ever actually caused a car accident.

He also doesn't like signs that have phrases in foreign languages. "These foreign languages are illegal on awnings, they say, and they're dangerous because you can't understand them. … It's very confusing and it takes the attention away from the road."

But store owners are just trying to communicate with their customers. They say, my customers are Korean. My customers are Chinese. They can read it.

That doesn't satisfy Sarro. She said, "Well, except that English is our language."

Sarro says before her beautification group got to work, her neighborhood was filled with ugly awnings, which have been torn down.

I told her I think the new signs are sort of dark and unattractive.

She told us to come to her neighborhood on a rainy day and see "how bright it is."

We did. The awnings were now all uniform — Soviet-style. But it didn't look bright to us. It looked dreary.

Should Government Regulate Signs?

This is New York City, not the Grand Canyon. People come here for the colorful signs. Times Square is a tourist attraction because of the signs.

"Times Square, that's all by design … by government regulation" said Kate Wood, another member of a civic group.

Wood and Sarro think government needs to regulate these signs, because individual businesses are messing it up.

But it was individual businesses that built New York and made it look interesting before the regulators passed all these rules. Now the regulations go on for thousands of pages. How is a little business to wade through them? Even if they have time, they probably wouldn't understand them. Store owners told us, even some inspectors don't understand the rules.

"I kept saying to the man 'What do we do? How do we cure it?' And his answer was 'I don't know. I just write the tickets. I don't know,'" said business owner Wendy Marsh.

Brad Feldman tried calling the city for help. "No one ever responded. I mean this is hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of calls," Feldman said.

Yet the planners insist every rule must be obeyed if a store puts up an awning.

"If a law is in the books, it should be enforced," Wood said.

I told Wood that she and her colleagues are just control freaks who want to run everybody else's life. She responded, "Well, if everybody minded their own business then what kind of city would we be living in?"

A free one, I said.

Give me a break.

An Update

Producer Frank Mastropolo updates the story:

On June 25, the New York City Council will vote on allowing a six-month moratorium on enforcement of the law that penalizes store owners for having anything on their awnings other than the name and address of the business. The moratorium will allow the city to examine how the current law affects businesses.

City Council Member David Weprin, D-Hollis, has proposed new legislation that would allow businesses to include words on awnings such as logos, telephone numbers, and services provided by the business.

In an interview with 20/20, Weprin called the 1961 law "totally out of date with today's times."

"If a pizzeria can't advertise that they sell pizza and they can't list the phone number for free delivery, they're going to lose business." Weprin told us. "And in the end, if a few lose business, you're going to lose tax revenue for the city of New York."