The writing's on the wall for ads.

A coalition of property owners and advertisers is crying foul over proposed zoning restrictions that could eliminate outdoor signage from many Manhattan neighborhoods. The issue goes to City Hall for a Nov. 29 hearing.

The group, LAWS (Lively Artistic Wall Signs), maintains that the survival of many local businesses depends on wall signs, since local advertisers, printers and property owners are employed by the sign industry.

Others contend that the onslaught of signage represents a cumulative blight on SoHo and adjacent neighborhoods. To this group, Times Square is contagious -- and needs to be quarantined.

They may as well condemn technology for much of their problem. Gone are the days when scaffolds and paint were necessary to cover a wall. Custom-made vinyl and canvas signs are relatively easy to manufacture, judging by their popularity around town. Like the MTA buses that appear to have been wrapped in advertising, these wall coverings border on comical when windows poke through their vinyl-mesh surface.

Portable ads are highly visible on Houston Street and elsewhere downtown. Kenneth Cole and myriad dot-coms use these "capes" on walls a cross the city.

Carrie McLaren, a New York-based anti-ad activist, is fighting these "wallscapes" via an irreverent approach. Last spring, she and her crew of self-proclaimed "billboard bashers" were in Times Square distributing fake tourist maps. The only sites featured on the map were "the city's most egregious billboards and other outdoor ad creep," according to McLaren.

"Because vinyl ads can be changed in a matter of hours, I think they reinforce the idea that everything is temporary, plastic and disposable. They make the street look like a website. Entire buildings are suddenly deleted," said Mclaren in an interview posted on the Internet last spring.

LAW finds plenty of redeeming qualities in this type of advertising.

"Outdoor signage has an established position in the cityscape and the local economy. New York City retailers have always used these signs to market their products," said George Shea, a spokesman for LAWS and the CEO of Shea Communications, a public relations firm.

His organization is strictly concerned with wall signs. The proposed amendments will affect the entire family of outdoor signs, however, which includes billboards, wall signs, and pole ads.

As their title suggests, LAWS does not find wall signs "unattractive," to use Shea's word.

Shea acknowledged the rich history of wall signs in New York City, many of which still linger, weatherworn and faded, on the flanks of buildings. Like the rotted piers on the Hudson that once served majestic ocean liners, these shopworn relics are portals to another time to sign enthusiasts.

Shea referred to a black and white photograph from a coffee table book. The perspective -- looking south from 23rd Street down Broadway, circa 1900 -- includes a wall sign for Wrigley's chewing gum painted above 22nd Street.

"There is still an ad on that wall today," said Shea.

Though chewing gum is no longer billed on this wall, an ad does indeed remain here. It is obstructed by a billboard that reads "DoubleClick Welcomes You To Silicon Alley."

Signage laws in New York City are somewhat archaic. Of the three zones in the city, each has different codes. Areas zoned for residential use are the most difficult to advertise in. Currently, only one-foot-by-one-foot plaques are permitted here. In a commercial zone, signs are restricted by size, height, illumination and location. Rules vary in these zones, however, as many different commercial zones exist.

Manufacturing zones have no size or height restrictions.

With a sea change occurring in Western Chelsea and SoHo -- where manufacturing-based economies are fast becoming residential -- the issue grows even more complex. Residents living in a converted warehouse may complain about billboards shining into their apartments at night, despite the fact that their neighborhood was zoned for manufacturing.

Doug Sarini, vice president of Manhattan Mini-Storage, owns property in several manufacturing zones. Sarini purchases defunct industrial space and converts it into storage space.

"Our tenants advertise on the walls of our buildings. It really helps because the storage business itself is very capital-intensive. All ancillary revenue is important," said Sarini.

He believes that much of the conflict stems from mixed use zones where industrial buildings are becoming residential.

"The zoning issues prevent us from advertising. There needs to be a balanced approach here," said Sarini.

The City Planning Commission's amendments could directly affect property owners like Sarini. If the amendments are approved, advertising will be curbed in areas of the city that are now unregulated (areas such as SoHo, NoHo and TriBeCa).

City councilwoman Kathryn Freed (First District) has been a long time opponent of outdoor advertising. Since 1993, she has fought for legislation limiting these ads.

"Areas like SoHo and NoHo are inundated in these signs. They are eyesores. We have to look at them constantly," said Freed.

She equated the issue to a neighborhood swarming with nightclubs and discos, where the noise level directly affects residents.

"There are certain places where these uses shouldn't be. It is really a quality of life issue," said Freed, who lives at ground zero in Tribeca.

"These signs might be great for the property owners who profit from them. But how great are they to a cafe owner beneath the sign or the shop owners nearby? Nobody else benefits from these things," she said.