Political signs on public property?

[RevolutionStartsNow]

Personally I think it's wrong to mess with a sign that someone has put up on their private property. I'd be pissed if someone took or otherwise messed with my signs.

But what about signs that are in a public area? I'm tired of looking at Yes on 8 signs around here -- new ones seem to sprout up every day. People don't seem to want them in front of their houses; I've only seen one at a house, the rest are posted at strategic locations around the neighborhood that seem to be "public" space; on a corner near a bus stop, just off the freeway as you enter the neighborhood, etc.

I am going to get some No on 8 signs next week and put them up around the area (I already have one on my front lawn), and I realize that if I take down their Yes on 8 signs I am inviting the same treatment, but I really hate to see my neighborhood appear as if we support this crap.

What do you say, DU? I don't want to be juvenile, and I know that signs don't vote, but I'd hate to think that even one person would be swayed by thinking there's a "consensus" around here.

Just FYI: I live in a liberal area, and 8 will be soundly defeated in this county. My neighborhood just has a handful of Republicans, and clearly the Yes on 8 people think they've found some fertile ground.

[panader0]

1. Steve Earle will never be president

But I'd vote for him as mayor of "Guitar Town"!

[RevolutionStartsNow]

6. Ha! Me, too!

I've had an Obama/Earle '08 sticker on my car since 2004. But damn if Barack didn't choose Joe Biden over Steve. Oh well, he probably would have been a liability...

[nosmokes]

2. If you can make enough noise you can get the public entities in charge

of those parcels of land to remove the signs and bill the campaign for the cost,an added benefit.

[msongs]

3. Riverside California prohibits such sign posting as defined in this city code:

http://www.riversideca.gov/municode/pdf/19/article-8/19-625.pdf

The jist is the signs cannot be permanently posted or affixed and must be ATTENDED TO by a living human being while on display.

There should be no problem removing such signs as your duty as a good citizen.

Msongs
www.msongs.com/political-shirts.htm

[Earth_First]

4. Personally, I am against political signs in the public realm...

...if only for the fact that after campaign season, they tend to remain well into the winter season. Often they are left unattended; only to become highway trash that drift around and creates not only an eyesore, but potential problems for fish and wildlife when they come to rest in retention ponds along the highway.

If it were up to me, political signs left on highways would become subject to a fine to the campaign associated with the signs if not removed in a timely fashion.*

*awaits free-speech crowd to cut me down.

[norepubsin08]

5. Read Collier vs City of Tacoma 1993

I am Mike Collier I ran against an entrenched incumbent from the left in 1990. There was a huge issue over the time and placement of yard signs during that campaign. The city came into homeowners property and told them to take their signs out of their yard and out of their windows. If not they would be fined per day and subject to arrest. We litigated the case based upon a civil liberty issue and won the case 9-0 in the Washington State Supreme Court. In the decision there is wordage about urban blight, visual hazards etc when being on public property. We at no time wanted a change in the sign restrictions for public property, but did want them for private property. In Tacoma, the signs were pretty much "open season" for the taking on public property...which meant we could use the wood and stakes for our own campaign.