Mom-and-pop shops ‘blindsided’ by de Blasio’s sign crackdown

It’s a sign of the times: Mom-and-pop shops say Mayor de Blasio isn’t saving our city, but sinking it, by unleashing a crackdown on storefronts under a rarely-enforced, 50-year-old law.

Small businesses in all five boroughs are ripping down their awnings because they contend they can’t afford new signs that would keep them within the letter of the labyrinthine law or the thousands in fines if they don’t comply.

In place of the awnings, owners are posting piddly little banners — maybe 2-by-5-feet across a 20-foot storefront — slapped against the bare concrete the awnings once covered.

The ugliness is on full display along Jamaica Avenue, stretching from Jackie Robinson Parkway in Brooklyn’s East New York to Woodhaven, Queens.

“It looks like a Third World country here,” said Margie Schmidt, whose grandfather opened Schmidt’s Candy nearly a century ago in Woodhaven. “Yucky, icky.”

Paul Vasiliadis hasn’t done anything — yet — with the back-lit sign he paid $6,000 for when he opened his Avenue Diner a decade ago at 91-06 Jamaica Ave.

Now, the sigജn has to come down, and the restaurateur is fa��cing anywhere from $9,500 to $14,000 for its replacement.

Vasiliadis figures the only way he can afford a new sign — anything larger than 6 square feet requires a special permit — is to take out a loan because his profit margin is so tight, especially during the winter months.

“Blindsided,” he said. “That’s how I feel — blindsided.”

Vasiliadis is right. He and the other businesses with sign violations were bushwhacked, ratted out by anonymous complainers — or complainer.

The Department of Buildings started blitzing businesses without permits in late 2017, after a rash of calls to the city’s 311 helpline. They came out of the blue but targeted certain areas, including Sunset Park, East New York and Woodhaven.

The DOB had no choice but to investigate each call, spokesman An♑drew Rudansky 🦋explained.

Officials wrote tens of thousands of dollars in tickets. After a backlash about the eye-popping fines, the City Council placed a morato꧃rium on tickets until February 2021.

Bill Wilkins of the East Brooklyn Business Improvement District isn’t buying it.

“The enforcement, all of the sudden, looks very punitive – to generate revenue,” Wilkins said about DOB’s crackdown. “That’s abuse, and that’s why shop owners throw up their hands and leave the community.”

Wilkins points the finger at de Blasio, for professing to be on the side of small 𝔍business owners but not stepping in to stop the sign insanity.

In early August, the Department of Finance launched a six-month initiative that reduced — and sometimes even forgave — the penalties and interest, but the amnesty program ended Tuesday.

Owners might take down or replace their signs for a variety of reasons, according to DOB. Three examples: The sign isn’t up to code or is incorrectly installed, or the owner received a ticket and pulled down the sign instead of getting a permit.

Schmidt is still hot about the DOB. She feels like she is constantly gettin💃g the run-around. For example, she want to know how much a permit costs.

“Tell me the goddamn price,” she said, clearly frustrated. “There’s no set answer.”

She’s right. The DOB can’t give every owner the same answer because every shop is different, Rudansky said.

The cost of a permit depends a set of variables, he said, including the store’s location and the size and type of sign. A permit will cost more for an illuminated sign, for example.

DOB officials are trying to get the word out about the law, visiting stores, doing town halls and handing out pamphlets — in 14 languages, Rudansky said.

Frank Castelli already made peace with the whole mess. He coughed up $3,500 to make s♈ure everything is up to snuff with the sign for his Beat the✅ Clock Printing store, at 97-13 Jamaica Ave.

But heඣ still thinks the price tag is over the top and, like Wilkins, lays the blame s🌟quarely on Hizzoner, who he sees as talking the talk but not walking the walk.

“Everything starts from the top. If the mayor wanted to do something about it, he would,” Castelli said.

“Folks are struggling,” he went on. “It’s hard enough to do business in New York.”