If you've recently visited the waterfront in Lower Manhattan, driven along the FDR Drive, or hung out in one of the Brooklyn parks along the East River, you may have seen it: a large, bright floating billboard chugging by in the water.

Attorneys with the city's Law Department say those waterborne advertisements are not only in poor taste, but are illegal, and are asking a federal judge in Manhattan for an injunction to keep them off the waterways around the city.

The company, Ballyhoo Media, has been operating in New York City since October 2018, according to the city's lawsuit. It claims to provide advertisers a unique opportunity to reach their audiences by changing the landscape of outdoor advertising through the 1,200-square-foot digital screens attached to its boats.

The city claims the company's barges violate restrictions on water-based advertisements that have been in place since 1964, with the passage of the federal Highway Beautification Act. The federal law delegates to states the power and responsibility of regulating signage along major highways to ensure both safety and the preservation of “natural beauty.”

The city, empowered by the state, has codified these restrictions into its local zoning law, which bars advertisement on waterways adjacent to any of the major types of land use—residential, commercial and manufacturing—as well as within view of “arterial highways,” which include the city's shoreline drives.

“Our waterways aren't Times Square. These floating eyesores have no place on them,” Mayor Bill de Blasio said in a statement. “Ballyhoo is operating in direct violation of the law, and we are filing this suit to put a stop to it.”

On top of being ugly, the city claims the advertisements pose a safety risk to drivers.

“Ballyhoo openly promotes its large, water-based, LED billboards as specifically designed to attract the attention of drivers, necessarily posing a serious safety hazard on busy waterfront highways,” Corporation Counsel Zachary Carter said in a statement.

According to the complaint, the city reached out to the company in January, notifying it that its large billboards were unlawful. The city claims the company responded through counsel that it would continue its operations.

The suit in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York seeks an injunction prohibiting the company from operating on city waterways. The city also is seeking a civil penalty of $25,000 per day for each zoning violation committed.

Davidoff Hutcher & Citron represents Ballyhoo. An attorney for the firm did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

In a statement, Ballyhoo CEO Adam Shapiro said before the company began operations in the city, it discussed its business activities with “numerous law firms” and it was “determined by all parties that we are operating in accordance with all current laws and zoning resolutions.”

“Advertising along the city's waterways is not new activity, Ballyhoo just happens to be the newest. We love the waterways and have developed this platform to be an asset to the community,” Shapiro said.

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