[Via Andriy Prokopenko/Curbed Photo Pool]
Last week, developer Donald Zucker took a street-side Christmas tree vendor to court, after the stand set up shop outside of his residential building at 77 West 15th Street, The Post reports. Citing an obscure city law, the developer sought an emergency court order on Wednesday which would bar the Wisconsin-based Evergreen Stand from selling trees, after receiving complaints from residents in his building.
The suit says that the vendor refused to move the trees down the street, which Zucker says blocks pedestrian traffic and takes up parking spots.
"Unless the Evergreen Stand is immediately stopped, defendants will continue to mount Christmas trees on the stand, making removal of the trees extremely difficult," the suit argues.
Zucker's lawsuit cites an obscure 1938 law which limited the sale of Christmas trees on the streets of New York before December 1, which came about following Mayor Fiorello La Guardia's crackdown of the then-unregulated industry. Zucker's lawyer says that Evergreen Stand needs the landlord's permission to hawk trees on the sidewalk outside his building.
However, the suit was withdrawn late on Wednesday when the proprietors of the Christmas tree stand couldn't be located to defend their business and a Manhattan Supreme Court judge refused to hear the case under expedited review. Nevertheless, Zucker spokeswoman Alice McGillion says that the landlord plans to try again at the end of the season, barring sales next year.
· Landlord sues to remove 'early' curbside tree seller [NYP]
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