31st Street Astoria
Oct. 25, 2016 By Hannah Wulkan
The illegal Cash-For-Cars signs that can be found throughout Queens have caught the attention of an elected official.
State Senator Tony Avella, who represents a large portion of central Queens, announced his intention to take action against these signs last week after receiving many complaints from his constituents and witnessing someone putting up the signs for himself.
He took a photograph of a man putting up the signs from a tow truck, and sent them along with a letter asking for stronger action by the Department of Sanitation.
“Every community in New York understands how much of an eyesore these illegal signs can be. Residents have complained for years about these signs but very little, if anything, is ever done,” Avella said in a statement.
“Now that we have identified one of the companies posting these signs, I hope Sanitation can take aggressive action to put an end to this horrible trend.”
Though Avella’s district primarily covers the neighborhoods of Flushing, Whitestone, College Point and Bayside, the signs are spread all over western Queens as well.
Department of Sanitation Kathy Dawkins explained that while posting the signs on public property is illegal, it is often very hard to track down those responsible, as many of the phone numbers on the signs lead to throwaway phones.
Dawkins claimed that the Sanitation Department does take the signs down and said that the department had taken down thousands of citywide, although she did not provide a time frame or any detailed information.
Queens Blvd
The penalty for a first time offense is a fine of between $75 and $200, as well as the cost of removal, and any subsequent offense carries a fine of $150 to $300.
Councilman Jimmy Van Bramer’s office, which primarily represents Sunnyside, Woodside and Long Island City, has not received any constituent complaints concerning these signs, according to a spokeswoman.
Meanwhile, Councilman Costa Constantinides, who represents Astoria and East Elmhurst, chose not to comment on the matter.
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26 Comments
Super witty is a man
Can I take one (or more) down?
A bunch of little B*tches. You people complain about anything holy shii
a bunch of bitches you people complain about anything holy shit
Those signs are the very fabric of this beautiful neighborhood. How dare you complain
Those signs are on every single block! Neighborhood looks like crap.
Something needs to be done before other businesses start doing the same thing.
We need the police to bring back the “Broken Windows” policy. It’s a quality of life problem.
Stop the people who throw news paper circulars, advertisements and coupons all over the place. It’s massive littering and they blow up and down the streets and in people’s yards and gardens.
I really couldn’t agree more. Those paper circulars are a nuisance- it’s litter and it’s environmentally unfriendly.
Ive have been pulling those signs by the handful along queens blvd and 43rd Avenue. I found out years ago that making a complaint to Jimmy VB office is fruitless. Directed from assistant to another to its squashed. I dont like the self promoting man–he hasnt helped the hood.
I remove them, too. Don’t be discouraged, there’s only so much elected officials can do. Everyone needs to take action.
Kudos to you for ripping them down. I do the same, takes about the same amount of energy as complaining about it.
You know what’s an eyesore? 1916 style subway infrastructure. Stop tinkering around with blemishes when the whole thing needs to be revamped. NYC should control the subways. Not some random in Albany. No payment without representation!
you know whats worse? 1916 service. maximum corruption, thy name is MTA.
first work to stop the huge latino crime wave (groping/thievery) and the subway platform masterbaters and then focus on these petty things. is anyone actually calling about these? this is a joke.
solve real problems
Also, let’s stop people from using big words that they can’t spell properly.
I made alot of money doing business with these people, they aint all that bad.
Att:tony avella- DOESN’T YOUR OFFICE HAVE MORE IMPORTANT MATTERS TO ATTEND TO? CANT YOU USE YOUR POSITION TO GET SOMETHING IMPORTANT DONE? i mean come on dont you have more important issues to deal well put your camera away and do something constructive
Like complain on a neighborhood blog?
How about getting rid of the Mexican day laborers first. How about getting the rapist and theives off the streets
Why does Sunnyside Post approve these awful troll comments?
Because of something called The Freedom of Speech. Even though you may disagree with what someone says there’s people who died for his right to say it.
The Sunnyside Post has every right to edit comments that are objectional, inflammatory, or off-topic without concern of violating the Bill of Rights. While you have every right to display and profess your ignorance, others have the right to point out how misinformed you are. The Sunnyside Post has every right to publish or delete our remarks as they see fit.
Sorry Bill of Rights but you are wrong!- not sure where you went to law school but the Sunnyside Post has the right to control the speech appearing on its domain and can remove troll or other posts it finds offensive even without a TOS agreement. If you are going to attempt to claim Freedom of Speech protections you should first understand the law.
– mcintyre v. ohio elections commission 514 u.s. 334 (1995) justice stevens writing for the majority
“And that is why our press was protected by the First Amendment– the only business in America specifically protected by the Constitution- -not primarily to amuse and entertain, not to emphasize the trivial and the sentimental, not to simply “give the public what it wants”–but to inform, to arouse, to reflect, to state our dangers and our opportunities, to indicate our crises and our choices, to lead, mold, educate and sometimes even anger public opinion.” – JFK
Yawn.