Angry residents fed up with a brightly lit Duane Reade sign on the second floor of The Corner apartment building on the southwest corner of 72nd Street and Broadway that the city says is illegal plan to picket the pharmacy this Sunday, according to an article today at DNAinfo.com by Leslie Albrecht.
The article said that "locals will protest outside the new Duane Reade at West 72nd Street and Broadway, where a glowing digital billboard on the store's second floor beams ads 24 hours a day. The Department of Buildings ordered the sign removed last month - but Duane Reade doesn't have to comply with that demand until after a June 2 hearing where the pharmacy gets a chance to plead its case, a DOB spokeswoman said."
Duane Reade could also face up to $6,400 in fines for the illegal sign, according to the article.
"In the meantime," the article continued, "the glare from the flashing billboard is interrupting locals' sleep, and some say the Times Square-style sign is destroying the neighborhood's character."
Borough President Scott Stringer, State Assemblywoman Linda Rosenthal, State Senator Tom Duane, and City Councilwoman Gale Brewer are backing the protest, scheduled for 1 PM on Sunday, May 1, the article said, adding that "Upper West Siders aren't the only ones angry about Duane Reade signage. East Side residents recently called for action against a marquee-style Duane Reade sign on East 86th Street, near Lexington Avenue."
Last fall a Time Warner billboard at West 96th Street and Broadway was dimmed slightly after residents complained it was too bright, the article said.
A March 24, 2011 article by Leslie Albrecht on the sign said that some residents in the area feel that it "threatens to turn their neighborhood into a mini-Times Square."
"We don't have signs like that in this neighborhood," said Jeannie Williams, who lives in the nearby Verdi apartment building, adding "it is hideous," the article said.
A spokesman for Duane Reade said in a previous article that the company takes such complaints seriously. "With more than 250 neighborhood locations, Duane Reade has always worked well with the local community," a spokesman said in an e-mailed statement, the article said.
The article said that "locals will protest outside the new Duane Reade at West 72nd Street and Broadway, where a glowing digital billboard on the store's second floor beams ads 24 hours a day. The Department of Buildings ordered the sign removed last month - but Duane Reade doesn't have to comply with that demand until after a June 2 hearing where the pharmacy gets a chance to plead its case, a DOB spokeswoman said."
Duane Reade could also face up to $6,400 in fines for the illegal sign, according to the article.
"In the meantime," the article continued, "the glare from the flashing billboard is interrupting locals' sleep, and some say the Times Square-style sign is destroying the neighborhood's character."
Borough President Scott Stringer, State Assemblywoman Linda Rosenthal, State Senator Tom Duane, and City Councilwoman Gale Brewer are backing the protest, scheduled for 1 PM on Sunday, May 1, the article said, adding that "Upper West Siders aren't the only ones angry about Duane Reade signage. East Side residents recently called for action against a marquee-style Duane Reade sign on East 86th Street, near Lexington Avenue."
Last fall a Time Warner billboard at West 96th Street and Broadway was dimmed slightly after residents complained it was too bright, the article said.
A March 24, 2011 article by Leslie Albrecht on the sign said that some residents in the area feel that it "threatens to turn their neighborhood into a mini-Times Square."
"We don't have signs like that in this neighborhood," said Jeannie Williams, who lives in the nearby Verdi apartment building, adding "it is hideous," the article said.
A spokesman for Duane Reade said in a previous article that the company takes such complaints seriously. "With more than 250 neighborhood locations, Duane Reade has always worked well with the local community," a spokesman said in an e-mailed statement, the article said.
Architecture Critic
Carter Horsley
Since 1997, Carter B. Horsley has been the editorial director of CityRealty. He began his journalistic career at The New York Times in 1961 where he spent 26 years as a reporter specializing in real estate & architectural news. In 1987, he became the architecture critic and real estate editor of The New York Post.
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