§ 10-118.1 Theft of manhole covers.

   a.   Except as provided in subdivision d of this section, no person shall remove, or transport through, along or across a public street, any manhole cover, including but not limited to the cover of an opening in the ground, street or sidewalk used by a public utility or authority to access underground vaults, structures, installations, or other enclosed space; or the cover of such an opening that is part of a sewer system, fuel storage system, or water supply system.

   b.   Any person who violates any provision of this section shall be liable for a civil penalty of not less than two thousand five hundred dollars nor more than ten thousand dollars. A notice of violation issued pursuant to this section shall be returnable to the environmental control board, which shall have the power to impose such civil penalty.

   c.   In addition to the civil penalties set forth in subdivision b of this section, any person who knowingly violates this section shall be guilty of a misdemeanor and, upon conviction thereof, shall be punished by a fine of not less than five hundred dollars nor more than ten thousand dollars, or imprisonment not exceeding thirty days, or both for each violation.

   d.   The prohibition in this section shall not apply to the owner of such cover, the duly authorized agent of such owner, or an appropriate legal authority.

§ 10-119 Posting.

   a.   It shall be unlawful for any person to paste, post, paint, print, nail or attach or affix by any means whatsoever any handbill, poster, notice, sign, advertisement, sticker or other printed material upon any curb, gutter, flagstone, tree, lamppost, awning post, telegraph pole, telephone pole, public utility pole, public garbage bin, bus shelter, bridge, elevated train structure, highway fence, barrel, box, parking meter, mail box, traffic control device, traffic stanchion, traffic sign (including pole), tree box, tree pit protection device, bench, traffic barrier, hydrant, public pay telephone, city-owned grassy area adjacent to a street, any personal property maintained on a street or other city-owned property pursuant to a franchise, concession or revocable consent granted by the city or other such item or structure in any street, or to direct, suffer or permit any servant, agent, employee or other person under his or her control to engage in such activity; provided, however, that this section shall not apply to any handbill, poster, notice, sign, advertisement, sticker or other printed material so posted by or under the direction of the council, or by or under the direction of any city agency, or pursuant to a franchise, concession or revocable consent granted pursuant to chapter fourteen of the charter.

   b.   There shall be a rebuttable presumption that the person whose name, telephone number, or other identifying information appears on any handbill, poster, notice, sign, advertisement, sticker or other printed material on any item or structure described in subdivision a of this section in any street violated this section by either (i) pasting, posting, painting, printing, nailing or attaching or affixing by any means whatsoever such handbill, poster, notice, sign, advertisement, sticker or other printed material, or (ii) directing, suffering or permitting a servant, agent, employee or other individual under such person's control to engage in such activity.

   c.   There shall be a rebuttable presumption that if a telephone number that appears on any handbill, poster, notice, sign or advertisement placed in violation of subdivision a of this section belongs to a telephone answering service and no other telephone number or address is readily obtainable to locate the person or business advertised therein, such telephone answering service shall be held liable for a violation of subdivision a in accordance with the provisions of section 10-121.

   d.   The commissioner of the department of sanitation shall be authorized to issue subpoenas to obtain official telephone records for the purpose of determining the identity and location of any person or entity reasonably believed by the commissioner to have violated subdivision a of this section.

Editor's note: For related unconsolidated provisions, see Appendix A at L.L. 1995/068.

§ 10-120 Protection of city advertisements.

It shall be unlawful for any person to tear down, deface or destroy any notice, handbill, sign, advertisement, poster, sticker or other printed material, put up or posted by, or under the direction of the council, or by or under the direction of any city agency or pursuant to a franchise, concession or revocable consent granted pursuant to chapter fourteen of the charter.