Area Resident Upset Over Small Business Saturday Banners In Brooklyn Heights

By on November 25, 2013 10:38 pm in Streets, War On Fun

This Saturday (11/30) is Small Business Saturday in Brooklyn Heights and around the rest of the country. The promotion was started in 2010 by American Express to encourage people to shop at small businesses in a weekend cluttered with big box retailers shouting about Black Friday sales. This year other brands are participating and retailers say it does help their business.

So what’s to complain about?

How about those horrible signs posted in Brooklyn Heights on Montague Street and Columbia Heights touting the promotion? A BHB reader writes:

In the middle of the night the city came by and stuck a massive banner on the street light outside my home.

1. Columbia Heights now looks like a commercial area.
2. Was there any public consultation?
3. We spend time keeping this post painted and graffiti free – this is city condoned graffiti.
4. Why did this happen in the middle of the night?
5. Pointless campaign – we so shop local – but with the continuing growth of national/international brands downtown/Montague St we won’t have choice soon!

Never one to complain – but I feel violated on this one. Help!

What do you think?

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  • sleepless on montague

    I have trouble believing that the person who wrote that is “never one to complain” . . .

  • AEB

    Thanks, American Express! Now I intend to do ALL of my Christmas shopping (which I don’t do anyway, but never mind), on Montague! Duane Reade, here i come!

  • DIBS

    LOL. Yes.

  • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UlsiLOnWCoI Arch Stanton

    To answer “Area Resident “:
    1. The signs hardly make Columbia Heights “look like a commercial area”, Although, it is kind of a poor choice of location for the city to place such banners.
    2. Maybe at a community board meeting… did you attend any?
    3. The banners don’t at all fit the definition of “graffiti”. Get a dictionary and a clue.
    4. Probably because it is less disturbing to traffic and less likely to draw immediate disturbances from whiners like you.
    5. Newsflash, the banners aren’t meant only for YOU.

    “I feel violated on this one. Help!”

    Psychotherapy $250 an hour… Anti anxiety medication $100 a month… Not having OCD neighbors like you, priceless.

  • Mark

    The fact remains that it’s out of place on a residential street. I saw one at Clark and Willow this morning — blecch. I’m going to contact Stephen Levin.

  • regularmike

    “Help!” is a bit dramatic. So is “violated”. Say what you will about the signs, but they are not going to hurt you.

  • Mary

    If that’s the biggest problem in your life, you’ve got it pretty good and instead of complaining, you should instead spend your spare time helping people with actual things to complain about.

  • WOW1

    First world problems

  • Boerum Bill

    Your move, Visa & Mastercard.

  • MonroeOrange

    if you complain about these signs, where was your outrage at the CitiBikes (citi bank) advertising all over our neighborhood?!

    and yes, i turned this into a citibike rant thread…deal with it Arch!

  • BK

    “never one to complain” Does. Not. Compute.

  • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UlsiLOnWCoI Arch Stanton

    Ha, are you actually baiting me into another Citibike debate, you will lose?

  • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UlsiLOnWCoI Arch Stanton

    Um, Duane Read isn’t a “small business”.

  • Dominic

    We’ll get right on this after poverty and world hunger.

  • MonroeOrange

    more like, i got you hook, line and sinker!…bet those bikes are really gonna get some good use now that the weather is changing…..

  • spm57

    I have to agree. The signs don’t belong on a non-business street. I noticed them when walking on Columbia Heights/Montague Terrace this morning and thought they looked out of place. Can anyone tell us has American Express made a large contribution to the Brooklyn Heights Association? I don’t understand any other reason why the banners would be on a residential area rather than sticking to business districts (i.e. Montague, Court and Atlantic.)

  • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UlsiLOnWCoI Arch Stanton

    Actually last Sunday, during the day, when it was below freezing and very windy (High windchill of 16 degrees) Citibike still clocked about 10,000 trips, better than I would have imagined.

  • AEB

    Oh, Arch! That’s all–oh, Arch!

  • David on Middagh

    Jean Stapleton lives!

  • ColumbiaHeightster

    I promise that this ColumbiaHeightster is not the BHB reader voicing the dumb complaints about the sign on our street. The sign is nothing to complain about. If it helps out or local businesses at all, I think it’s great to have the sign there.

  • MonroeOrange

    oh boy..i got a big one…big mouthed bass on the hook!

  • Heightsman

    If someone was handing out $10 bills on Montague we’d have people on this board complaining that they weren’t $20’s!

  • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UlsiLOnWCoI Arch Stanton

    Oh no poor MO, you hooked yourself in the mouth… again.

  • PierrepontSkin

    Wow. Bunch of crybabies around this neighborhood.

    BK Heights sure has changed since I was a kid.

  • http://selfabsorbedboomer.blogspot.com/ Claude Scales

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=awD1gtpdWIA (with helpful Slovenian subtitles)

  • Heights_Neighbor

    So now that Small Bus. Saturday is over, will the signs come down Monday…?

  • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UlsiLOnWCoI Arch Stanton

    Thank you Claude, but I already know all about irony… Just didn’t think AEB’s attempt was all that funny or as ironic as If an actual local small business name, was used. Example: Thanks American Express, Now I intend to do all of my Christmas shopping on Montague St, Variety Mart, here I come!

  • http://selfabsorbedboomer.blogspot.com/ Claude Scales

    OK, “attempted irony.” That rates a six month suspension from Modern Language Association events.

  • KatieD

    I agree that the signs are eyesores and detract from the beauty of the neighborhood.