Fortune teller advertised psychic consulting business with large neon sign and awning over her first-floor apartment window. Louis and Laura Wanko leased a first-floor apartment at 333 East 52nd Street in an Upper East Side neighborhood zoned for residential uses – an R813 district. A month after moving in, Louis installed several signs without permits, announcing his wife’s fortune telling business. A neon sign, three-feet tall by two-feet wide, reading “Laura’s Psychic Vision” was bolted to the outside of the building and paired with a large awning affixed over the first floor window reading “Clairvoyant & Astrology Reading.” A third sign over the doorbell directed potential clients to their apartment.

A Buildings inspector confirmed the wife’s use of the apartment for psychic consultations. He found a table, chairs, tarot cards, candles and a statuette positioned in the front hall of the apartment. Buildings filed a petition to padlock the apartment, charging the Wankos and the building owner with violating the zoning code restriction on operating a commercial business in a residential district. At the hearing, the Wankos argued that the use was permitted under the zoning code as an accessory “home occupation” because the apartment was their primary residence, the fortune-telling operation took up less than 25 percent of the unit, and the wife did not have employees. (read more…)