Police Ticket Cars With "For Sale" Signs In Window

[matcom]

<snip>

Local officials say impromptu used-car lots distract drivers and clutter streets. But such laws may violate free-speech rights.

On the afternoon of April 24, Ryan Price walked out of her mother-in-law's Santa Ana home to her car. What happened next would launch Price into a three-month legal tiff involving her family, City Hall and the 1st Amendment.

Attached to the windshield wiper of her silver 2000 Acura Integra was a traffic ticket. Price looked up and down the residential street in bafflement — she had not parked near a stop sign, a fire hydrant or in a red zone. The car was within a permissible distance from the curb.

The ticket itself was just as mysterious. Cryptically it noted that she had violated city ordinance 41-1301(a) at 3:27 p.m.

Confused, Price walked back to her mother-in-law's apartment. The two searched on the Internet and found out why Price was fined $54.

Her car was ticketed because she had a "For Sale" sign in its rear window.

http://www.latimes.com/news/custom/showcase/la-me-wheel20jul20.story

[shoelace414]

1. commercial speech is not required to be free

[sui generis]

2. holy crap batman

I'm probably going to get a ticket for "clutter" and "distraction" in my car -- I think it's possible Jimmy Hoffa is actually buried in there somewhere under a pile of magazines and Taco Bell wrappers.

[Cobalt Violet]

3. Does that mean no more yard sales?

Or stuff by the side of the road with a "FREE" sign on it?

[olddem43]

4. This law is pretty common in cities

It is needed to prevent used car dealers from using the streets as their car lot and also to prevent unlicensed dealers from setting up shop in the streets. Imagine all the streets lined with used/junk cars and even fewer places to park than there are now.

[el_gato]

5. That "problem" sounds more mythical than anything

The truth is cities are strapped for cash and they have
to find creative ways to chisle more money out of people.

[olddem43]

7. Cities may be strapped but they don't usually -

try to remedy this by chiseling money from small traffic tickets. All this would accomplish is to make the citizens angry. Usually, tickets like this are issued on a complaint basis... Laws like this are generally passed to solve an existing problem and to prevent similar problems in the future. Streets are for transportation, access to abutting properties and if space is left over, for parking. But not for a huge outdoor market. How would you feel if your neighbor started using the street in front of your house or business as his private used-car lot?

[el_gato]

9. This person was not running a car lot

How would you feel if you were targetted for a crime you did not commit?

Now if this were something that was going to be implemented in
a reasonable way such as being applied only in cases were a person
was trying to use the street as a car lot the situation would be
different. Again, in the article above the person was not
creating a nuisance but yet she was still given the shaft.
This is an instance of capricious enforcement to say the least.

[mahatmakanejeeves]

6. using the streets as their car lot

The practice is known as "curbstoning." It was common a few years back in Alexandria and Arlington VA, but the local officials have clamped down on it. It was not unusual to see cars parked in tony neighborhoods with "for sale" signs. When I once checked the number of a car parked on a busy street through a reverse phonebook, I found that the owner lived miles away from where the car was parked. Right away I got suspicious: if the owner is being deceptive about this, what else is he trying to hide? Now, anyone still curbstoning is probably using a cellphone.

Google for curbstoning

Curbstoppers

Curbstoning is really just a larger and heavier version of street spam. Individuals are turning pulic property into a venue for their own commercial advertising.

[el_gato]

8. Buy yet the law makes it possible to target anybody

If someone is systematically using a street as a car lot they
should have to deal with the repercussions but if an individual
is selling their car and gets a ticket for having a for sell sign
on the car then they are being illegitimately targeted for
a problem they are not causing.

It has been common practice for a very long time to sell
your car by putting a sign with your phone number on it.
It's a slippery slope. The next step is ticketing people
for such items as political stickers or signs on their cars.

Notice that the person cited in this article was not running
a car lot yet she gets screwed for something she has not done.

[olddem43]

10. It's easier to make and enforce a law that applies to

everyone - car dealers and individuals that buy and sell cars for profit. Otherwise you have the problem of who's a dealer and who's not, or how many car sales per week/month/year constitute dealing. Besides that, car dealers would complain that they are discriminated against if they are prohibited from doing the same thing. Again, I don't want the idiots across the street setting vehicles for sale in front of my property.