Helium balloon blimps sail amid tough officials

By Gayle Lynn
Staff Writer


Hollywood - Twenty-year-old Eric Nadel May be young but his business sense goes far beyond his years.

At 17, while he was still a student at Hollywood Hills High School, Nedel started his own company. Tendel, Inc. manufacturing nylon tricot jogging shorts. In just eight weeks, he sold over 10,000 pairs of shorts, he said. Nadel graduated from high school and put his fledgling company on hold while he attended the University of Florida to study business. Now, two years later, Nadel has reinstated his company's status. This time be's producing helium balloons for advertising.

His problem arose Monday morning when he went to the City of Hollywood to obtain a permit to sell and fly his balloons.

Bob Davis of the city's zoning board flatly told him a permit would not be issued, Nadel said. "He three me out of his office. He said 'I'm going to reject it so you'll have to appeal it."'

Nadel said Davis rejected his idea on the basis of a city ordinance that required billboards to be less than 64 feet in diameter. "These are less than that," Nadel protested as he waved a color photo brochure of his product. An air blimp measures 8'6" by 25', well within the maximum size.

Nadel's predicament is compounded because he said he has already sold 20 of the helium balloons pending permission from the city. The loss of those sales, he said, could cost him a tidy profit. He was hesitant to provide an exact figure but he said it was well over the five figure range.