Signs of Less Litter
No Ads
Stop the blizzard of ads and business cards that appear on your doorstep. Take advantage of a 2008 state law and join the thousands of Fort Greene and Clinton Hill residents who are putting up signs that prohibit advertisers from leaving unsolicited ads.
Get a free waterproof "no ad" sign from Green Fort Greene & Clinton Hill (thanks to the Fort Greene Association) or from the Society for Clinton Hill.
If your block has a chief, speak to the chief.
Pick up a sign at Marcus Attorneys, 13 Greene Avenue, Monday-Friday 9:00-6:30, (718) 643-6555
Contact Sharon Barnes here. She is giving out signs for the Society for Clinton Hill
You can also print your own.
Go Big!
Be a block chief. In a couple of hours, you can cover your block. Your neighbors will greet you with gratitude. We will give you the signs, ties to use to put them up and a chart to keep all in order.Our Goal:
In addition to saving you from an annoyance, we aim to free the entire neighborhood from unwanted brochures. With thousands of signs posted, it will no longer pay for advertisers to seek out the few houses without signs. They will see that mass leafleting is a waste of money, in addition to a slap at Mother Earth. We will work with merchants to spread the word about sales in more environmentally friendly ways and will promote stores that are green.Still Getting Ads?
If your sign is being ignored, we encourage you to call the manager of the advertising store and make three points:1) If there is a sign, the law requires that no ad be left. The sign was ignored at address. People with the signs regard the ads as unnecessary trash.
2) Instead of gaining customers, the ads are annoying people. By advertising this way, you are losing customers and wasting money.
3) The signs are being put up as part of a neighborhood-wide effort to make our community friendlier to the environment. We will promote stores that adopt earth friendly measures.
Please let Green Fort Greene & Clinton Hill know the merchant's response so we can refine our strategy and share information with our neighbors.
The Law and Enforcement
The 2008 state "Lawn Litter" law allows property owners to post a sign in a visible area in front of their homes to let advertisers know not to place unsolicited advertising material on their property. The sign must be at least 5" x 7" with lettering at least 1" high. The City's Department of Sanitation enforces the law. Its sample sign says, "Do not leave unsolicited advertising materials on this property."
Advertisers ignore signs at their peril. The fine is $250 per violation. The store in the ad is presumed to be the violator.
For information about the law, including what to do about violations, go to http://home2.nyc.gov/html/dsny/html/contact/requests_lawnlitter.shtml. Also, contact Green Fort Greene & Clinton Hill. We want to track violations and the Department of Sanitation's response.
Answers to Frequently Asked Questions
The people on the street who put out the signs are not subject to fines.
We know that leaflets not left at houses are often dumped. This is why we have to get up enough signs so that it is no longer efficient for advertisers to come into our neighborhood. We are mapping signs so that we can show advertisers how many people do not want the ads.
We will encourage merchants to advertise in less wasteful ways, like through e-mail or by placing a limited number of brochures in strategic locations, such as at local schools or subway stations.
In the big picture, a green economy will produce more jobs than a polluting economy. It is shortsighted to protect the jobs based on waste.
Enforcement is discretionary. Our inclination is not to enforce against small merchants who put out an occasional menu or notice. Local merchant associations know our policy.