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New law is paper tiger

By Mike McLaughlin
The Brooklyn Paper
The Brooklyn Paper / Julie Rosenberg
These “No fliers” signs, distributed widely by the Park Slope Civic Council, aren’t big enough, according to new Sanitation Department rules.

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The city’s new regulations to help homeowners stem the tide of unwanted menus and fliers from their doorsteps and vestibules may unleash an entirely new round of paperwork and red tape.

The Sanitation Department this week started enforcing a eight-month-old state law to keep circulars off Brooklynites’ front stoops.

Neighborhood groups like the Park Slope Civic Council and Boerum Hill Association had created front-yard signs requesting that delivery people keep their fliers to themselves, but the signs had no enforcement power.

They still don’t.

According to the new regs, only signs that are at least seven inches wide by five inches tall and include the words, “Do Not Place Unsolicited Advertising Materials On This Property,” can trigger $250 fines for litterers.

But those fines kick in only if homeowners are willing to follow some rules themselves: If you want to press charges against a culprit who has ignored your seven-by-five warning, you must fill out a complaint form with the city’s Sanitation bureau. Should the defendant plead not guilty, you may need to appear in court to attest to the violator’s wrongdoing.

Nonetheless, city pols were crowing.

“We finally have an enforcement mechanism in place that allows the city, property owners and tenants to hold violators of the law accountable,” said Councilman Vince Gentile (D–Bay Ridge).

Of course the elected officials support the “No flier” law. Their newsletters and fliers are exempt from any property owner’s desire to stop being inundated by them.

©2008 The Brooklyn Paper

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