By Scott Sieber
In a telephone interview Friday, Avella said the legislation would make it easier for emergency services to find their destinations, while benefitting store owners with a wider consumer base.After protests by community residents over a billboard written entirely in Korean on Northern Boulevard near the Broadway railroad station in Flushing several years ago, Avella said he began researching the topic to see if anything could be done.”I found a 1909 state law that basically says all signage must be in English,” he said. “But it was unenforceable. The district attorney of each respective county is the only person who can enforce it and I think we all see that they've all got better things to do with their time nowadays.”When translated, the offending billboard turned out to be for an illegal cab company operating without proper licensing. “It was the perfect example of why we need this,” he said. “The authorities wouldn't have even known about it.”Avella said the law would not be retroactive, but new businesses would have to comply, and while aware of the fuss his measure would create, he said open discussions are needed on the subject of signage.”This is extremely controversial,” the councilman said. “I tell you, many elected officials just run from this issue, but it's a real concern and at some point it needs to be dealt with. My bill is a good compromise. It takes care of the good neighbor issue.”Fred Fu, of the Flushing Development Center, said that while he keeps the signage on his store in English, he is wary of what legislation would do to downtown Flushing where Asian signs, most with English translations, line the streets by the hundreds.”It depends. I think at least 30 percent should be English because this is America,” Fu said, adding that if too much of the sign is devoted to English, it might discourage relocating businesses. “I think if you do that, immigrants would not come here anymore,” he said.City Councilman John Liu (D-Flushing), who, through a survey of 300 businesses during the Korean billboard controversy, found that 95 percent of the businesses in downtown Flushing actually did display English in their signs, said the decision should be left up to business owners rather than government.”The lack of English on signage is more of a perception than a real problem,” he said. “There's a small number that don't have English on their signs because they're not sure what words to use yet. There are no longstanding businesses that don't have English on their signs. It's always the newest stores that crop up.”Avella said there were still some kinks to be worked out, such as how to clarify names of restaurants written in another language.He expects to introduce the bill sometime in June.Reach reporter Scott Sieber by e-mail at news@timesledger.com or by phone at 718-229-0300, Ext. 138.
