Giant Ads: Legal, But Should They Be?

You’d expect to see this kind of schlocky, tasteless marketing anywhere in Manhattan or Northern Brooklyn, but we’ve so far escaped this breed of visual pollution. But as ill-fitting developments sprouted up near major avenues – with one- and two-family homes next door like the one above at 2792 Ocean Avenue – some apparently prime advertising space has sprung up.

But reader BrooklynQ has been wondering if these signs are legal. He wasn’t sure, but suspected that they were in violation of regulations that limit the type and size of advertising in residential neighborhoods. He hit up Community Board 15 to see what they had to say, and was told that they are, in fact, legal.

He, however, is still not so sure, and finds them pretty obnoxious. They run several stories tall, don’t have information about the company placing the advertising, and wonders whether the fabric material exempts it from the rules governing old fashioned billboards.

So, maybe they’re legal. But should they be?