City removes political signs from public right of way (wonder what party the paper endorsed)

City code enforcement officers carried out a bipartisan raid Tuesday, confiscating about 500 political yard signs illegally placed on city right of way.

Nicole Cromwell, zoning coordinator for the city-county Planning Department, acknowledged that it might have been better to remove the illegal signs a little earlier in the political season.

"We didn't think of it a week or two ago, but then we started to receive a lot of complaints about specific signs in specific locations," she said.

After code enforcement officers responded to some complaints, it occurred to them that they might be accused of discrimination if it could be shown that any of the complaints were motivated by partisan politics.

That's when the department decided to do the one-day sweep, which was preceded by a public notice - in the shape of a 4-by-4-inch display ad in Saturday's Gazette - of the city's plans. The city code on the subject is short and simple. The relevant section of 27-707-16 reads: "No political sign shall be located within or over the public right-of-way or on a utility pole."

Another section of the code prohibits placing signs of any kind in the right of way, and the sweep on Tuesday was actually aimed at all of them. But only a handful advertised anything other than candidates or ballot issues, including about a dozen real estate signs and a handful of signs advertising garage sales or similar events.

Cromwell said the city right of way runs from the curb to the back of the sidewalk. In areas where there are no sidewalks, the right of way is anywhere from 8 to 11 feet off the street and is the area where street lights, fire hydrants and traffic signs can be placed.

Cindy Graf, who lives at 1152 Kootenai Ave. in the Heights, didn't know about the law and doesn't get the newspaper, and she was upset to find her four signs gone Tuesday evening. Three of them touted statewide Republican candidates and were free, she said, but she bought her Bush-Cheney sign online, and it set her back $9.95.

She was also upset because her neighbor, a Democrat, had her signs removed and placed on her front stoop, not hauled away.

Cromwell said that was true, but only because Graf's neighbor was pulling out of her driveway when the code enforcers were pulling up her signs, and she told them she'd put them in her yard, legally, later in the day. Cromwell said it is standard policy for code enforcers not to go on private property unless the owner invites them to.

All the signs were taken to a parking lot behind the city shops off South Billings Boulevard, where people can retrieve them until 5 p.m. Friday.

Graf is lucky. She called her City Councilman, Larry Brewster of Ward 2, who offered to fetch the signs himself and bring them to her house, which he did Wednesday. He said he also intends to discuss the sign ordinance with other members of the council.

"The city ought to be willing to give them at least a warning," he said. Too few people are aware of the law and it is too confusing, Brewster said, and if people are required to maintain city right of way maybe they should be allowed to put signs on it, as long as they don't create a hazard.

Cromwell said the law is there so the city isn't seen as endorsing candidates, causes or products.

Some candidates and homeowners went to the city shops to retrieve their signs Wednesday, including Don Woerner, a Democratic state House candidate from Laurel. His was one of the most elaborate signs confiscated.

The 4-by-8-foot sign was made of heavy fabric bolted to a piece of particle board. He had 12 of them made at a cost of about $80 apiece. The one in question was taken from a supporter's yard - but on city right of way - a little west of Shiloh Road on Rimrock Road.

"I thought it was legal, but I guess it wasn't," Woerner said. He was planning to put it back up, but set a little farther back and placed at a more strategic angle, so it could be read by motorists coming from either direction.

Cromwell said the Planning Department fielded a few complaints, but also heard from people who applauded the sign bust.

"We did have one person who called and said, 'Can I start picking up signs, too?' We said no."

For more information on retrieving signs confiscated from the city right of way on Tuesday, call the city-county Planning Department at 657-8246 or 657-8288.

I understand rules. I mean, I actually get a bit mad when it has been oh 3 weeks after the election and those that put the signs do not fetch them. They in turn litter the roads.

Used to be when elections rolled around both parties participated in such folly.

I noticed on my way to my wife's workplace this morning that all the Bush/Cheney yard signs along a significant portion of the route had been removed overnight. They were there last evening, but gone this morning. My first thought was that city zoning officials had taken them, but then realized NO Kerry/Edwards signs appeared to be missing. We had gotten into the habit of counting the signs each day on the way to her work because the Bush/Cheney signs outnumbered the Kerry/Edwards signs by a ratio of 10 to 1. We also noted this morning that signs placed near the streets were the only ones missing. If the signs were farther up in the yard they had not been taken.

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