Cleaning Up or Missing the Point?

They pop up all over: on utility poles, lampposts, trees, even on fire hydrants. Signs, illegal ones, announce garage sales and hot CDs, lost dogs and political candidacies and all manner of business ventures. In the process, they raise the ire of community activists set on eliminating blight.

City code makes it illegal to affix a sign to city property without a permit. And a state law implemented last January raised the fine for an illegal posting to $1,000. Bolstered by the law and neighborhood outrage, the city attorney’s office ratcheted up its enforcement effort by distributing cameras to volunteers. The volunteers, in turn, photograph offending signs so the city can locate the scofflaws and issue them an order: Take down the sign or pay a fine.

Some months into the effort, PAMELA DAVEGA CARR checked in with homeowner association members and business owners: Is enforcing laws against illegally posted signs a good idea, or should the city focus its time, energy and money on other goals?

DON SCHULTZ

President, Van Nuys Homeowners Assn.

I think they should enforce this law. Absolutely. I think it is long overdue. My wife and I have been upset about this for years. A visual blight is as bad as any other in our community. Until you start penalizing the people who are doing it, we aren’t going to get rid of it.

My wife and I are code enforcement volunteers, which means we try to detect violations. We report them, the violators are notified, and if the signs aren’t taken down, then the city attorney prosecutes.

I’d love to see the media give more attention to the fact that companies are 1/8putting up signs advertising businesses 3/8. It’s about time companies started owning up to this illegal practice. The law used to be after the people putting up the signs, and it’s not their fault. They are just trying to make some extra money. It is the companies that hire them. If I were a judge, I would give out stiffer penalties than they do.

FRANK AIELLO

Owner, Canoga Park-based pool service business

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I had no idea that it was illegal to hang signs. I saw signs all over the place advertising computer shows and things like that, so I decided to hang them out everywhere, advertising for my business. But the next day, I received numerous calls from homeowners and others. I had to go take all of them down because I didn’t want to be subject to the penalties I was told about. Luckily, nothing ever became of it because I did take them down.

I guess I can see both sides of the issue, but I am against them using tax dollars to support this law. If they start enforcing and prosecuting this, where is it going to end? Are they going to start tracking down people for lost dogs or to their yard sales and put them in handcuffs?

If they start enforcing these things, then they will have to establish a budget for this. They will have people out there who will go around looking for signs. That would be a waste of money, I think.

STEVE PEPPER

Member, Valley Glen Neighborhood Assn.

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My biggest pet peeve is people who don’t take down their garage sale signs. When you see a sign up with a certain address and then a week later it’s still up--those are the people who should be fined. I have taken 1/8signs 3/8 down and given them back to people. . . . I don’t have a problem with garage sales or the signs, just as long as they take them down.

As for political signs, I don’t see them as a problem at this point, but once the elections are over, the people who put up the signs should be responsible for taking them down.

JOSEPH MICHAEL FREY

Co-Owner, Northridge based nursery

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No I don’t think that tax dollars should be used to enforce and prosecute the sign law. I don’t have a problem with the signs. I don’t think they look trashy or cause a nuisance. Tax dollars should be spent on other things, like children’s education. We shouldn’t have to be concerned with simple things like people putting up signs.

But I do think that there is a difference between companies advertising with street signs and signs for garage sales or lost pets. For personal things, I think it is all right. It takes away from people’s freedom not to let them. They should have a time limit for certain signs to be up. They could have them up for a time, but then they would have to take them down.