To view our videos, you need to
enable JavaScript. Learn how.
install Adobe Flash 9 or above. Install now.

Then come back here and refresh the page.

Graziano Lembo owns the Capri Caffe. He says his metal roll down shutters protect his restaurant from vandals and thieves.

"I know New York City's safe, but you can't be 100 percent sure," said Lembo.

But City Councilman Peter Vallone says those gates encourage graffiti. He wants to require all new gates sold and installed in the city to be at least 70 percent see through.

"We can really make a difference in the cityscape of New York City. It will make it much more beautiful, much cleaner. There would be 80 percent less graffiti," said Vallone.

The Bloomberg administration, while agreeing that the full metal pull down shutters are unsightly, doesn't agree that shop owners should be required to make the change.

"Due to business escalating cost, especially during the current economic crisis, we believe it imprudent to legally require a business, especially a new business that's already facing large startup costs to purchase a particular brand or type of security gate," said Andrew Schwartz, New York City Department of Small Business Services.

On the campaign trail back in 2001, then candidate for mayor Michael Bloomberg said he wanted to get rid of metal shutters in the city and called them one of his pet peeves.

Still, he supported offering incentives to business owners to change the gates.

Back in the 1970s and 1980s, metal shutters became popular with store owners in response to increased crime and the 1977 blackout when thousands of stores were looted.

Vallone says today the security risk is not to shop owners, but police officers.

"When police and fire roll up to the scene they'll be able to see right inside and not guess what's behind there," Vallone said.

His original proposal would have required all gates be replaced by 2015. But small business owners opposed the added expense, since security gates can cost thousands of dollars and mesh gates can cost up to 10 percent more.

Still, some small business owners like Lembo say they shudder at the thought of having to pay more down the road.