Wednesday, August 6, 2014

Flyers inside Juniper Park are a bit of overkill

This past Sunday, 8/3/2014, we were walking along the sidewalk of Juniper Park in Middle Village. There are flyers taped on EVERY street lamppost surrounding the park. They were advertising a blood drive for the American Red Cross at Trinity Lutheran Church (63-70 Dry Harbor Road, Middle Village).

First, I think everyone supports the important work the American Red Cross does and know that the supply of donated blood could be a matter of life and death for many people. Keep up the great work!

Our complaint is that this effort at Juniper Park is completely unacceptable. Flyers taped on EVERY lamp post surrounding Juniper Park is illegal and disrespectful to the neighborhood and the city. There are flyers also posted along the inner walking path and on many structures within the park.

Why so many? Wouldn’t a handful at the corners and a few in between give ample notice of this blood drive? Or better still, we have community bulletin boards in the local businesses. We have numerous Queens newspapers. We have Facebook and Twitter (Troop 106’s Facebook page has this blood drive posted).

These flyers deface the neighborhood and also teach the wrong message to the kids of Troop 106 - posting illegal flyers is OK if it’s for a good cause and be disrespectful to your neighbors and the city.

We trust that those responsible for putting them up will remove them. Be respectful to the neighborhood and city and take them down (don’t forget the tape) after the expiration of the blood drive (Sunday, 8/9/2014, 3pm).

Here is the NYC law describing postings on public property:
N.Y. ADC. LAW § 10-119 : Posting

Anonmyous

19 comments:

Anonymous said...

Many LGBT activists are very opposed to the ban by the red cross on blood donations from any man who has ever had sex with another man, and for one year for any woman who has sex with a man who has ever had sex with another men. Not all are thrilled with the organization.

Anonymous said...

I completely agree. JunipterPark has been inundated with illegal flyers for years. I personally have torn down dozens. I've reported them to 311, Dept of Sanitation (who enforces the NYC poster law), Dept of Parks, etc. but to no avail! Freedom of speech is great, but not if you break the law! Also, the majority of these flyers NEVER are never removed by the person or organization that put them up!

Anonymous said...

FYI. The following was extracted from a Juniper Berry article regarding illegal postings of flyers:

You could receive a fine of up to $200 for each instance where a poster is traced back to you. Second offenses can cost you up to $300.

The fine for illegal posting on street trees can be as high as $200 for the first offense and $550 for subsequent offenses.

If you notice an illegal sign, call 311 or report it online at DOT's website. Be sure to write down the location of the sign and any information that identifies the party responsible for posting it, such as a business name and phone number.

Anonymous said...

Great service from American Red Cross. Great support from Troop 106. Great local support from Trinity. Just bad judgement and poor execution.

Anonymous said...

What do these have in common: baby sitter, garage sale, contractor, handyman, dog walker, day care, lost dog or cat, apt for rent, cash for car, exercise class and tutoring? Answer: they've all been on illegal flyers posted on lamp posts at Juniper Park! How many have received fines from the Dept of Sanitation? Probably none.

Anonymous said...

This is bloody insane!

Anonymous said...

I have no problem with flyers like this if after the date the people who put them up take them down (Though its not likely).

The real issue I have is with the people who put up these plastic signs on the light pole with adhesive glue or nail signs into trees and lightpoles for cash for cars or houses or some other nonsense. Those people should be heavily fined.

Anonymous said...

I realize that blood drives and many other great organizations are crucial to our health and safety. They exist to help all of us. We now live in a high tech world (internet, mobile devices). Why aren't we using Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, etc.) instead of out-dated paper flyers, which is detriment to a clean environment?

Anonymous said...

To follow-up on the comment regarding the Department of Sanitation - is there any public information on how many illegal postings are fined? I see statistics on other city violations (recycling, parking violations, etc.). Or is it that DSNY does not enforce these violations at all? Why do we then have this law on the books?

Anonymous said...

To Mr. Robert Holden, President of Juniper Park Civic Association: I would like your current thoughts and comments on the illegal flyer issue and what else our community (and all of NYC) can do to alleviate this problem. As always, thank you for your great service!

Anonymous said...

Let's all continue to monitor this. Or else we'll see our neighborhoods turn to this:

http://vassifer.blogs.com/.a/6a00d8341c18b253ef0163014f95bd970d-800wi

Anonymous said...

Don't give the Red Cross a pass, They are one of the slimiest, crooked "Charities" around. Check some of the Charity checker website and you'll quickly see what I mean...

Anonymous said...

The real issue I have is with the people who put up these plastic signs on the light pole with adhesive glue or nail signs into trees and lightpoles for cash for cars or houses or some other nonsense. Those people should be heavily fined.

I can't understand why/how those organizations get away with it - the "cash for cars" signs are going up everywhere, including on traffic signs. Why can't NYC call the phone number, tell them to come and pick up their "car," and then arrest them when they show up?

Unknown said...

I live in Middle Village and have no issue w/these flyers. Obviously the boys went a bit overboard, but no harm done. I'm sure they'll take them down afterwards unlike others.

Anonymous said...

Why go after the scouts when the biggest culprit are the "cash for cars" and "cash for homes" people?

Anonymous said...

There are almost 60 of these posters around the park --- come on! What about the "Ray Jimenez" guy that advertises his "for profit" excercise classes at our expense!

Anonymous said...

screw the boyscouts. sexist homophobic bigots should not be be patronized.

Deke DaSilva said...

Many LGBT activists are very opposed to the ban by the red cross

Who the hell cares what "LGBT activists" think?

Do you really want to jeopardize the safety of the blood supply in order to please a group with their own agenda?

Anonymous said...

Come on people this is not about flyers this is clearly that the person who started this has a vendetta against the Red Cross or boyscouts. Are the Flyers have been up on poles for how long for many other things cash for cars lost dogs now all the sudden somebody wants to say something for a good cause read some of the post above you'll see they all talk about the Red cross. They call it a scam it's right in front of us people it's one person and they just want to make a big stink over nothing did this person think they should XD boyscouts if they would remove the Flyers after the event know of all people the Boy Scouts don't you think they would have removed it I asked they may have had it planned to take down anyway. I see people talk about social media Twitter and Facebook pages how many of the people complaining actually look at the Boy Scout page or Twitter page none they would have never known about the blood drive unless they seen may be a flyer. You talk about community and how people should be friendly but instead of talking to the Red Cross or the Boy Scouts and maybe find out if they had plans to take them down after the event no you call and have them all removed and then trash them online I see who the real children are here