The Vinton City Council held a General Government Committee Meeting on Thursday evening.
On the agenda was a lengthy discussion concerning the placement of yard signs in the right of way. For years it's been a rule/ordinance/law that signs of ANY KIND are not allowed in the right of way.
The clamp down on placement of signs in the right of way, came about after several signs were placed along the streets, like a flood of them Good on the sign producers for finding that many people to place signs. That's not the issue.
The Vinton Police Department put out a notice about the upcoming removal of the signs. And yet this week, 77 code violations were given aka signs had to be removed.
The city attorney will be working with the council to create a new ordinance allowing some signs to be placed in the right of way. The strict removal affects non-profits like the Legion who depend on the placement of their sandwich board in the intersections, but because the VPD had to be fair, that sign had to be removed. Because of the enforcement of the law, the Vinton Fire Department also had to move its annual breakfast sign back.
The problem is being nondiscriminatory. The attorney advised the council that making an exception creates discrimination. So how can the council fix the issue without discriminating against politicians?
The argument was made by Tami Stark that she would like to have it limited to events so that things like her open houses on the weekends so that the signs could draw more attention in the 48 hours before an event.
The City will consider having signs allowed for special events, but it is unsure how the final draft will read.
To watch the meeting, which got a bit heated at times, CLICK HERE
In the Editor's Opinion:
If I were on the council, I'd go for the exception to be nonprofits.THESE are the people who improve the whole community. Nonprofits make the world go around. Nonprofits rub elbows with everyone in the community and...they don't profit. Businesses do.
I also noticed someone trying to get around the ordinance placed political signs on their garbage can, then hey placed it by the road. The issues with this are:
1) the garbage can is not your property, you're just borrowing it
2) the sign is STILL in the right of way
3) there is an ordinance that says garbage cans must be placed next to the house except on garbage pick up day.
Try again.
So here's to ordinances and the hassle that enforcing them can sometimes be.
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P.S. there is still a right of way. I believe it was something like 33 feet from the center of the road...or check the utility poles and go behind that...
Personally, I do disagree with the ordinance and think that the non-profits should be allowed to put their signs there. Although, if safety is the main concern and the reason signs can’t be in the right-of-way, then any sign, regardless of content, should not be there.
Also, I think of the trash can as a form of protest and absolutely hilarious.
And no you can’t pick and choose which persons or organizations are allowed to post and which are not. You either allow free speech or you don’t. Government doesn’t get to pick which messages are “approved” and which are not.