Taking a (news)stand
Midtown fixture vows to KO city & stay put
After 52 years, the city is set to shut down a venerable Midtown newsstand — over just one missed permit payment.
Elizabeth Willis, who has run her newsstand at Seventh Ave. and 50th St. since 1967, got a letter from the city Consumer Affairs Department because somehow, she missed a payment under an automatic payment plan.
“You are directed to surrender your license immediately,” the March 23 letter said. “Operating with a suspended license will subject you to civil penalties and other sanctions.”
Willis, 72, thinks the city’s real reason for seeking to yank her license is that it wants to replace her business with a fancy sidewalk internet kiosk. She says in addition to the letter, she is being regularly harassed by city inspectors.
Her lawyer Peter Gleason wants the city to cut it out.
“I would urge the Department of Consumer Affairs to focus their energies on assisting small-business owners rather than trying to regulate them out of existence,” said Gleason.
“This newsstand has stoically stood for the better part of a century and should be treated as a landmark akin to any other protected structure.”
Willis and her then-husband, a disabled Korean War vet, started running the stand together in 1967. Her husband died in 1992, but Willis kept on.
The cost of her permit rose from $50 a year to the current price of $1,076 every two years.
In 2005, Consumer Affairs tried to yank her license for failure to renew. It also tried to fine her $7,000.
Willis went to court and won. Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Judith Gische called the agency’s move “arbitrary and capricious” and “shocking to one’s sense of fairness.”
“Newsstands are a vital part of our urban fabric,” she wrote.
Then, in 2008, the city contracted with French outdoor advertising company JCDecaux to switch out many newsstands with stainless-steel kiosks.
Willis’ stand was replaced with a cramped, drafty metal shell. It has no room for magazines or newspapers. But there is room on the side of the structure for a big advertising sign.
“I never had no problem with the stand, never had trouble with it until they put this up,” she said. “I started to get violation for this, violation for that.”
She blames two heart attacks on the stress from inspectors writing citations. “I told them I’m not gonna give you another dime,” she said. “I’m gonna fight. I’m gonna fight. If I’m in the right, I’m gonna fight. And I know I’m in the right.”
Consumer Affairs says over the past six years, Willis has gotten six violations for unauthorized advertising, and has $4,563.53 in unpaid fines.
“Once she pays her outstanding fines and comes into compliance with the law, she will be able to continue to operate the newsstand that she has called home,” the agency said.
Willis’ latest heart attack was in March, but she’s still working seven days a week. On Friday, a customer stopped in to buy a small water for $1. Willis was out of small waters, but she gave him a large water for the same price. “Take it,” she said.
The customer thanked her and dropped a few more coins on the counter. “This is for yesterday,” he said.
Business as usual at Willis’ stand. For now.