Forum Archive

Our block is no different from most blocks in brownstone Brooklyn in that we are inundated with staggering amounts of paper advertising. We get free papers, store circulars, supermarket flyers, restaurant menus, doorknob pizza ads, contractor cards and yes, letters from MICHAEL, the goofy guy who offers to buy your house for cash and/or have a blessed day.

This trash blows around making our block look like a garbage dump. And as everyone knows, garbage begets more garbage just like broken windows beget graffitti. If we as consumers now can call on the American Marketing Association to put ourselves on no call lists and also to ban advertising garbage from our mailboxes, we have spam filters on our email — why can’t we institute a ban against the armies who descend upon our neighborhoods daily, generating revenues for the city which writes tickets when all of this crap winds up on sidewalks. Who wants this stuff?

I would like to investigate a no-distribute program which empowers home owners or block associations to opt out of this obnoxious distribution of litter.

Has anyone had any experience with lawmakers, associations, or the advertising distribution companies themselves? I am determined to do something to stop this and would like to ask for your feedback, advise and help. The owners on our block have been heavily ticketed, despite trying very hard to keep the block clean and it is a burden. We have asked the people distributing the flyers to hand them to individuals or to not leave them, but they are just employees of the offending businesses. Anyway, any feedback would be appreciated as always. Thank you.