When Insider saw an article in the New York Post we noticed, in particular, the headline below:
Many of you know that Ballyhoo Media has been in a David versus Goliath dispute with both New York City and State over whether they could operate their floating digital billboard on New York City waterways. CEO, Adam Shapiro, has been very willing, through this process, to discuss the dispute. We reached out to him again, to get, first hand, his take on the status of their fight with the New York government.
Is the report correct and have you reached a settlement with New York City.
Yes, we have reached an agreement with the City. We made a business decision to stop spending our time and resources fighting with the City and rather focus our energy on building positive relationship with municipalities that are open for business. This was a business decision, rather than a legal decision. To this day, we have never received a single fine or citation from the City. Instead, the City tied us up in frivolous lawsuits and public smear campaigns attempting to drain us of our resources. There were many times throughout the process in which we thought we would be able to resolve our differences in an amicable way, but ultimately we could not, and have decided against entering a long litigation process. It is really a shame when our government disregards the law and uses these sort of bullying tactics to run a legal business out of town.
As a part of the settlement can you confirm that Ballyhoo will no longer operate on the waterways bordering New York City?
Yes, we proposed to leave NYC in return for the City to drop its lawsuit against us. We have received so many positive messages from people, businesses, politicians throughout this experience. We are excited to move beyond NYC and bring our platform into markets and municipalities that welcome us with open arms. We built this platform out of love and admiration for our waterways. Our founders grew up on the beaches and built this platform to enhance the waterway. We have done that in Miami by partnering with local government, supporting local businesses, and providing incredible out-of-the-box experiences that only our platform can deliver.
As reported, will you be moving the barge and digital billboard down to Florida?
Yes, we are currently moving the boat down to Florida for the winter. We already planned to relocate the boat temporarily as we have business opportunities for both Art Basel and Super Bowl. For Art Basel, we have partnered with one of the most prestigious Miami Beach hotels and will be used as a floating art exhibit throughout the week. For Super Bowl, we have partnered with NFL Super Bowl Committee and will be positioned out front of the NFL Fan Experience at Bayfront Park. We are so excited to not only be in the market for these unbelievable events, but thrilled to be incorporated in such unique ways for each event.
… Also, boating in Florida during the winter is A LOT nicer than boating in New York. As we say in the boating world, “may the wind always be at your back.”
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