Cortelyou Road has new lighting, new paving, new bike racks, a decorative clock, and a whole host of new stores and restaurants that merchants and residents believe signal a sea change in the strip’s history.
Suddenly the heart of a newly hip neighborhood, Victorian Flatbush, the thoroughfare — for years overshadowed by a dispiriting combination of empty storefronts and tacky stores — seems on the cusp of a new era.
Then, there’s the dollar store near the station, whose merchandise regularly spills out onto the sidewalk, in rampant violation of the existing zero visibility regulations in effect along the strip, as well as of its own (now suspended) stoop line permit that allowed the owners to display produce, but no other merchandise, out of doors, within tightly regulated perameters.
The store, S & A Dollar Store, at 1506 Cortelyou Road, has been a problem for some time, creating “a sort of dirty atmosphere in the evenings,” says Sandy Hussain, the business services manager for the Flatbush Development Corporation. Explained Hussain, “This store violated their permit so much that the permit was suspended in June, but they’re still doing it, and no one has come to confiscate their goods,” which include not only produce but also a wide range of “personal items” that are not allowed to be displayed on the street under the stoop line permit.
The store, Hussain contended, demonstrates “a brazen disregard for the community, pedestrians, and fellow merchants.”
“It may seem like a petty issue to some,” she told this paper, “but, it’s actually a pretty serious issue.”
For one thing, Hussain stressed, the fact that S & A appears to be getting away with their actions, “Signals to other merchants that it’s okay to violate the rules. There’s a constant domino effect where we have to deal with other merchants who are copycatting. The other merchants listen, but this merchant doesn’t, so there’s a constant pull between them and the community. They tell you, go ahead and call the inspector. He won’t come anyway.”
Gabe Carino, the president of the Cortelyou Road Merchants Association (CoRMA), concurred. “At night,” he told this paper, “they put stuff way out so people can’t walk.” This has caused a problem with some of the newer merchants, he added. “When one store gets away with it, they all think they can get away with it,” he explained.
In addition, said Hussain, the behavior by the dollar store “is taking away business from other merchants, who sell the same goods and who are abiding by the rules.”
One reason why the merchandise that is displayed in violation of the rules is not confiscated, added Hussain, is that once the city’s Department of Consumer Affairs (DCA) issues a fine or a suspension, “The merchant can appeal and DCA won’t do anything till they have their day in court.”
While, under certain circumstances, the NYPD can intervene and even confiscate merchandise, Hussain said, that had not happened yet in this case.
By press time, DCA had not responded to requests for comment. Efforts to reach S & A Dollar Store by press time were unsuccessful.
