Horses are permitted, but not cows, sheep, goats, pigs or any other hoofed animal. Chickens or rabbits are all right, but, the code adds, “A person who holds a permit to keep for sale or sell live rabbits or poultry shall keep them in coops and runways and prevent them from being at large.”

My John Doe Building

Q. Can I officially designate a name for a city building I own?

A. Unofficially, you can call your building  on its entryway, on its stationery, in conversation  anything you want, as long as you aren’t breaking someone else’s trademark or misrepresenting the place. So don’t call it City Hall or the Seagram Building or Pennsylvania Station.

And don’t call it 2 East 57th if it’s legally 22 East 57th. “Basically, the only city recording that is involved with buildings is the numerical address that is given to it by the borough president,” Clifford A. Merin explained in an e-mail message from the city’s Law Department. “The name of a building cannot misidentify the number.”

Other than that, “The naming rights are pretty much up to the owner of the building,” Mr. Merin said. Nor does the unofficial name have to be filed or recorded with the city, he added.

Take a Message

Q. I was stopped at a red light in New York City and answered my cellphone. Can I receive a ticket?A. Yes you can, unless the phone is hands-free, responded Paul J. Browne, the chief spokesman for the Police Department.