Of the tens of thousands of metal roll-down gates in New York City, the creamsicle orange and pink one guarding Park Slope’s Breadivore bakery may be among the most attractive.
Breadivore owner Cixiu Gao commissioned a local artist to paint the gate to match the shop’s awning two years ago. So when she heard the city was banning gates like hers effective July 1, she was upset.
“ It's a ridiculous regulation. It doesn't make sense,” Gao said in an interview.
The ban stems from a nearly 20-year-old law. In 2009, the City Council passed legislation requiring security grilles to be at least 70% see-through — both to deter graffiti and allow police and firefighters to better see into stores when responding to potentially dangerous calls.
The law was meant to go into effect gradually, with solid metal gates fully phased out by July 1, 2026, and replaced with chain-link style grilles. After that, fines for those out of compliance would be $250 for the first offense and over $1,000 for repeat offenses.
But as the deadline approaches, small business owners and business groups are complaining the law was poorly communicated and barely publicized.
“It really caught a lot of people off guard,” said Mark Caserta, vice president of the Brooklyn Chamber of Commerce. “We’re looking at this as a ticking time bomb.”
Replacing a metal roll-gate can cost thousands of dollars. Gao said she was quoted between $6,000 and $7,000 to replace the one at her bakery.
Build Up Justice NYC, a nonprofit that provides free legal services, said it's been inundated with questions from small businesses about how to comply with the new law.
“ They're barely making ends meet due to insurance, rising commercial rents, real estate taxes, and disruptions in their supply chain, as well as skyrocketing costs,” said William Joyce, the group’s community economic development program director. “This could really, really endanger these businesses.”
The security gate on Breadivore in Park Slope would need to be replaced under a City Council law. The baker's owner hired artist Jonathan Horowitz to paint the gate.
Elected officials are now scrambling to undo their own legislation. The City Council is set to hear a new bill Monday that would repeal most of the 2009 law’s requirements. All existing metal roll-gates would be grandfathered in under the new legislation, and gates would only be required to be 70% transparent upon replacement.
“ I was getting an overwhelming number of calls,” said Councilmember Althea Stevens, the bill’s lead sponsor. “ I think that we need to give the businesses the time to be able to comply.”
Stevens said she’s served on the Council for four years and “ I have not heard about this bill at all.” She said the lack of outreach and publicity from the Department of Buildings over the last decade was “unacceptable.”
The Department of Buildings said it would delay enforcement while the proposal moves through the Council.
A spokesperson for Mayor Zohran Mamdani said the administration would be testifying in support of the bill at Monday’s hearing.
"The Mamdani administration’s focus is on reducing the cost burdens associated with running a small business and cutting unnecessary red tape that weighs down entrepreneurship, all without sacrificing public safety,” spokesperson Matt Rauschenbach said in a statement.
Some in the business community don’t think the new bill goes far enough.
A group of two dozen business associations, business improvement districts and chambers of commerce sent Council Speaker Julie Menin a letter in March asking that the law be repealed in its entirety — including the 70% transparency requirement for new gates.
Some, like Gao of Park Slope’s Breadivore, say they’d feel less safe with the more transparent security gates.
“ It's only gonna invite the thieves: ‘Look, here's what we have inside,’" she said.
