Yard signs, public property, and the law

Campaign signs line the public right-of-way along Kellogg Avenue in California during the Labor Day Picnic this month. But are they illegal? (Photo by Patrick Reddy/The Cincinnati Enquirer)

Cincinnati City Council adopted a resolution Wednesday asking City Council candidates not to violate a city ordinance banning campaign yard signs from public property.

The resolution is a perennial project of Councilman David C. Crowley, who has even been known to stop his car on busy streets to remove offending yard signs of his opponents.

City Council unanimously adopted Crowley's resolution Wednesday, though Mayor Charlie Luken mused out loud that there's something wrong with a legislative body that has to pass a resolution encouraging its members to adhere to its own laws.

But the law that Crowley cites, C.M.C. Section 714-33(b), doesn't seem to apply to freestanding campaign signs not attached to anything but the ground:

Except as otherwise provided in this section, no person shall post or affix, or solicit or procure another person to post or affix, any notice, poster or other paper or device, calculated to attract the attention of the public, to any lamp post, public utility pole or shade tree in the city right-of-way, or upon any public structure or building, except as may be authorized or required by uniform law. [Emphasis added]

Crowley said he always assumed that the law applied to campaign yard signs. "Obviously, I didn't look into those details," he said.

But he said the other part of his resolution still applies: Campaign yard signs on public property shouldn't be there, and city employees should be free to remove them without fear of getting into a political brouhaha.

Crowley said he would look into whether the city ordinance needed to be strengthened.