Store Owner Ordered to Remove American Flag
Andrew Glick is the owner of Flea Market Thrift in Hollywood, Florida, and he is being ordered to remove the American flag he installed to adorn an otherwise ramshackle store front. The owner of the building, Sterling Stores, Inc., maintains that Glick is in violation of the lease because they claim he made a structural change to the building.
Glick counters that the flagpole is bolted to a concrete slab and is not attached to the building. Judging by the condition of the roof, two obvious observations can be made. First, Glick’s American flag has improved the curb appeal of his store, and second, Sterling ought to fix the roof before spouting off about the flag.
Sterling’s motivation seems suspect. Possibly they are that breed of America-hater whose disdain for the American flag is so strong that they won’t condone flag displays on their property, or maybe they want Glick gone and they’re trying to harass him to the point where he leaves voluntarily. In any case, it appears that Sterling most likely has a hidden agenda for wanting the American flag removed.
It’s interesting to note that the owner of an adjacent business has jumped on board with Sterling in condemning Glick’s flag. Bruce Wheatley owns Public Pawn and Jewelry and himself has not one, but at least four American flags flying from poles attached to the roof of his building. Yet he claims that Glick’s lone flag constitutes a safety hazard. Nice try, Bruce.
May 30th, 2006 at 7:11 am
Nice try Andy, but no cookie! Here it is 10 days later and the wood fascia board that Andy has attached his flag to is already pulling off the building. Sure his pole is bolted to the sidewalk, but it shook so bad in the wind that Andy had to secure it to the fascia board to keep the pole from breaking. It is a really cheap thin mail order pole.
I talked to Andy last week who had to acknowledge that after all his ranting and raving, NOT ONE NEW CUSTOMER came to his store. I reminded Andy that he originally had bought a 10′x6′ flag, but it was way too big to fly where he put the pole. I told him that if he was smart, he would put the pole on the roof where he could fly the big flag and thereby attract more positive attention for his store.
That, by the way was his original intention. To attract attention to his store. Unfortunately, he chose to take a negative approach, damaged the building, put up a flag pole on the walkway and ruined his relationship with the landlord. And again, he got NO NEW CUSTOMERS out of his publicity stunt. Andy has now asked the landlord for permission to reinstall his pole on the roof!