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In 2009, Michael Bloomberg was reelected to a third term, Sully Sullenberger landed a plane on the Hudson, and the City Council passed a law banning solid roll-down gates that would go into effect on July 1, 2026. \u201cWe wanted to give a reasonable phase-in period to small businesses,\u201d the council\u2019s lawyer said<\/a> at the time. And now, that date is fast arriving<\/a>. Councilmembers deemed the metal gates \u2014\u00a0the ones that cover the front of basically every bodega, bank, and laundromat \u2014\u00a0unsightly and a magnet for graffiti. Instead, storefronts were being asked to install \u201cgrill gates,\u201d which look like oversize chain links, with at least 70 percent visibility. Except, it seems, no one has really done it. We reached out to Vincent Greco, the owner of City Gates, a roll-down-gate manufacturing company, to talk about the 17-year-old law, what he\u2019s hearing from businesses, and whether people are rushing now to replace their gates.<\/p>\n This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.<\/p>\n I like the motto on your website \u2014 \u201cHave a GATE day!\u201d It seems like a lot of gate owners probably aren\u2019t having \u201ca GATE day\u201d right now. Have you gotten a lot of calls about this law?\u00a0 How many orders for new gates have you gotten so far?\u00a0 Were your customers even aware of this law, given that it\u2019s 17 years old? Are you going to be backed up when that happens? How much does a grill gate cost? How many gate manufacturers are there in the city to make these? Do you remember the law passing? What was the reaction back then?
I\u2019m working on \u201cHave a GATE weekend!\u201d but I\u2019ve gotta trademark \u201cHave a GATE day!\u201d<\/p>\n
It was only a couple of weeks ago where someone posted something online, and then a news channel picked it up. I started receiving notices from Business Improvement Districts that had sent out a couple flyers to the members of their organization. Then people just started calling, and it\u2019s picking up a lot of traction. People really didn\u2019t think about it, but they knew it was coming, since it was introduced back in 2009.<\/p>\n
Last week I probably got about 15 to 20 orders in and I probably got around 50 to 60 inquiries.<\/p>\n
I think they\u2019re just learning about it now. We do a lot of work for national retail stores, and I don\u2019t think that this was on their bingo card because they\u2019re kind of struggling right now. I\u2019ve been reaching out to my larger customers with multiple stores just to let them know, \u201cIf you really are serious about changing, we\u2019d like you to get onboard now because we\u2019re definitely going to see an overwhelming influx of people who are going to have to change once July 1 comes.\u201d<\/p>\n
We actually started ordering a bunch of material in preparation. The grill gates are all made by hand. I can hire more people, but it still takes time cutting the material and assembling it. It\u2019s like knitting \u2014\u00a0one ten-foot-by-ten-foot storefront gate probably takes someone an hour and a half to make. What I\u2019m hoping for is that if the city does a summons, they give the owner a 30-day stay and the owner can place an order and then they can give them time. These gates are not readily available, they have to be made and this is affecting every retailer. It\u2019s an incredible task, so I can\u2019t believe they actually passed it, it\u2019s going to be so expensive to every retailer. All the bodegas are solid, so I don\u2019t know where they\u2019re going to get the money to do this.<\/p>\n
Back when the law passed a grill gate was a bit more expensive than a solid gate but over the course of time material has gone up substantially for solid gates, so now they\u2019re right on par. An average ten-foot-by-ten-foot storefront gate is anywhere from $2,000 to $3,000. If you have a functioning solid gate that works, we have the ability to take out the panels and put in a grill so they don\u2019t have to replace the whole unit. That would be around $1,500 to $2,000.<\/p>\n
Although there seem to be a lot of gate companies, only a handful of us actually manufacture.<\/p>\n
Yeah, I\u2019ve been doing this for 45 years. When it first came out, because it was going to be so many years prior to the law going into effect, only a handful of people used the law to make a decision. It was like, \u201cWe don\u2019t know what\u2019s going to happen next year, never mind in 15 to 16 years.\u201d Most people want to be protected and lock down their door at night. There\u2019s a real fear among retail-store owners that they\u2019re going to be totally exposed. When you have a grill gate, it\u2019s nice to display the product at night and leave the light on, but in certain neighborhoods I don\u2019t think you want that exposure. They\u2019re more vulnerable and easier to cut.<\/p>\n