Aren't you tired of all the advertising signs on roadsides? We have some sign caper stories and a proposed solution involving CHEERLEADERS.
City or County ordnances define what is legal regarding business signs, and what is not, but it seems more and more businesses, and even politicians, are ignoring the rules. There are usually separate ordnances defining when political signs can be posted and where.
We will describe the two types of signs, and some capers going on, and maybe a possible solution involving CHEERLEADERS (which increases our readership also! We could not find pictures of local Cheerleader car washes).
1 Commercial business signs - posted illegally
Lake County towns like Tavares are infested with "snipe" roadside signs... you see them sprout like mushrooms on corners, medians and anyplace where drivers might see them. They are placed there by businesses that would rather trash the roadsides with signs selling printing, medicine, real estate, or signups to private kids sports programs. My understanding is that such signs are illegal if placed in roadside medians, which are usually defined as the space between roads (median strips), or in the grass between sidewalks and curbs. On some highways, like State roads, the state property might be 6-8 feet from the curb, even on the other side of a sidewalk. You can usually tell where the line between government right of way and private property is located because the responsible government will mow the grass more often, leaving a cut line indicating the median setback.
Recently, at two different times, while driving, I spotted people setting up illegal business signs on HWY 19 near 441 and told them
that was illegal, and both just scowled and ignored me. One Cuban restaurant owner said he needed them to attract customers. What happened to using legitimate advertising in coupon books, the papers or Google ads? By allowing the snipers or illegal political signs to be installed, it forces other firms with legal advertising methods to compete illegally, driving up the trash factor of Tavares and other cities.
Also, keep in mind that if high winds occur, they can blow the sign into your property and cause damage, AND the wires used to hold the signs can damage lawn mowers used to cut the median and private property grass.
2. Political election signs posted illegally
The more organized or experienced political candidates know that cities and the County have ordinances defining when and where political signs can be put along roads. Usually, the timeframe for allowing such political signs starts about 60 days before elections. Those candidates usually spend time to get permission from private land owners to place their signs, rather than place them illegally in roadside medians. Each city and the county have ordinances that define processes. At least three towns, like Leesburg and Minneola, require the candidate to actually pay to get a permit, and the city must approve the signs and maybe even stamp it. I remember in the election two years ago, visiting Minneola's town hall, and finding a room full of impounded political signs, including some of the big 4x4 signs with wood posts. Some cities do enforce their ordnances, and others do not.
So, one way to judge a candidate organization and ethics is whether they get private property owner permission to place signs, and avoid illegal medians. Then, there are the others that don't read the ordnances, and place their signs in illegal areas, or place them on private land without permission. That would be people like Ross Biehling, running for Congressional Dist. 8, who has incurred more complaints and illegal signs in Tavares than anyone else. More than one person has reported his signs posted illegally, or posted on private land, and that amazingly, at the same time, legal signs for Patricia Sullivan disappear. Then, there are some low key violatiors, like several Democrat supported candidates for the School District Board, who consistently post their signs right on corners or in the median in areas like Tavares Main St. You almost think the Dems don't read, or don't care about following rules.
The Great Tavares Sign Grab Caper
Today, the Orlando Sentinel reported that City Administrator John Drury was spotted removing illegal business signs in medians. I guess since he just got a $10,000 raise, he decided to go out and earn it. But, I would rather have him manage the city and instead establish a bounty program on illegal signs.
Earlier this week, our good friend Ralph Smith contacted the code enforcement
office of the City of Tavares, and
he found that illegal signs were not supposed to be removed by
individuals, but maybe anyone removing illegal signs might not be a
problem if they dumped them off behind the City Police Dept. (see
picture). Smith (and myself) both have businesses on high traffic locations and we both get some snipe business signs, and both got surprise candidate Ross Biehling signs posted on our properties without our permission TWICE. (Note: The picture is of impounded, illegal political signs. Biehling had the most - 30 of them.)
Some cities DO enforce their sign ordnances and have code enforcement or police impound the signs. Last week a friend living in the Country Club of Mt. Dora saw police car occupants removing ALL the illegal political signs posted at the entrance to their tract.
The Ralph Smith and Vance Jochim's Fiscal Rangers Cheerleader Solution to illegal signs
I suggest all local Lake County School District High School cheerleaders be authorized to impound illegal signs!
Why make the poor girls mess their hair by washing cars to raise funds (see picture - you would be amazed how many pictures come up during a search on "Cheerleader car wash"?). Instead, let them drive around in Daddy's air conditioned SUV and collect illegal signs for a fundraiser.
Currently, most cities don't have ordinances that allow volunteers to remove the illegal signs. So, you need to encourage city and county leaders to implement a city volunteer committee to be approved as ROAD RANGERS to enforce the sign ordinances and remove all the signs.
Define a place to put the illegal signs (like the Police department dumpster) AND allow the
Road Rangers (or Cheerleaders) to KEEP the "wires" used to hold the signs and donate them to their favored political candidate or party for use on LEGAL political signs. Those wires cost 50 cents or more, so it helps the legal posters of signs, and penalizes the illegal users. The Cheerleaders could sell the signs and wires to future political candidates.
An alternative would be to select 3-5 charities and give them rules and authority to remove the signs so they could sell the wires for fundraisers.
Ralph and I volunteer to help John Drury in Tavares.
But, whatever group is authorized to impound the signs should undergo required training so they do it safely and only impound illegal signs, and maybe take digital pictures as proof. And, given them a Road Ranger decal, hat and ID explaining their authority over ILLEGAL signs!
Additionally, the ordnance needs to provide for fines or a bounty on illegal signs, payable to a non-profit group like Goodwill, who provide good local services like their job center, and they have a resale center to sell the wires and old signs (painted out of course). The fines should be payable by the business or person advertised.
And, offer a bounty for anyone who submits a digital picture of who is posting illegal signs.
Let's clean up the roadways and get some better sign ordinances.
PS: John Drury may have collected a few signs, but one person I know has about 100 illegal signs to contribute - all are illegal business signs.
Vance Jochim
Chief Fiscal Watchdog
