In Flushing, a battle over store signs

The teeming streets of Flushing can feel like a different country.

A booming Chinese population exists alongside a longtime Korean enclave. Day trippers from Manhattan or the suburbs come to eat and shop here on weekends. But to some, the area can feel a little too foreign.

City Councilmen Dan Halloran and Peter Koo are drafting legislation that would require store signs in the city to be mostly in English. They say police officers and firefighters need to be able to quickly identify stores.

The change also would protect consumers and allow local shops to expand outside their traditional customer base, the council members argue.

But merchants say it would be an unnecessary and costly burden on small businesses and would homogenize diverse pockets of the city that cater mostly to immigrant residents.

"People must respect that this is a special area," said Peter Tu, executive director of the Flushing Chinese Business Association. "When you walk in the street, you don't feel like you are in America." -- AP