City Hall cracks down on candidate lawn signs
The right-of-way is the wrong place to support local candidates.
That’s the message officials sent to Santa Monica office seekers this week after city workers hauled off more than 75 political lawn signs for being illegally displayed.
The signs back candidates running for seats on the City Council, as well as boards for the local school district and community college. By law, the signs only can be placed on private property.
That means the parkway between sidewalks and city streets are off limits, though those areas are often tended by residents as if they were part of their private yard. The law also excludes public places like the grassy median of San Vicente Boulevard, long a popular locale for showcasing political signs.
“I think it’s very foolish,” said 58-year resident Helen Spaulding, 70, who lives on Lincoln Boulevard. Spaulding said she had signs supporting council candidates Bobby Shriver and Kathryn Morea in her parkway for three weeks before they were picked up by city workers Tuesday.
“It’s a waste of city time, it seems like to me,” Spaulding said. “Typical.”
How the signs wind up in illegal places isn’t always clear. Sometimes it’s a matter of confusion for residents who don’t know parkways are off limits, but other times it’s a mystery. Some veteran candidates said disgruntled competitors often play a prominent role.
“Our signs have appeared obviously in places where we wouldn’t put them there and I don’t think any of our supporters would put them there,” said City Council candidate Matt Dinolfo, who recently spotted one of his lawn signs in the middle of the roundabout on 26th Street. “If people want to take them down, that certainly is irritating, particularly if they’re in places like people’s yards, and then they show up elsewhere.”
Dinolfo is no stranger to sign wars. He ran for a council seat in 2002 and accused fellow candidate Chuck Allord of stealing his lawn signs. The City Attorney didn’t pursue those charges.
Confiscated lawn signs are taken to the city yards at 2500 Michigan Ave. Tyra Williams, from the city’s street maintenance division, said there was a dumpster there overflowing with lawn signs earlier this week, but they had since been hauled off to the dump. On Tuesday, a separate dumpster was dedicated for political signs, Williams said, adding candidates were free to pick up their signs on weekdays between 1 p.m. and 3 p.m.
For city officials, the sign fallout is just part of the routine.
“It kind of happens every election cycle,” said Judy Rambeau, a spokeswoman for City Hall. “They (the signs) can be out on private property and you see them all over. You just can’t have them on public property, or they’ll be picked up. That’s a long, long standing” restriction.
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on October 21, 2004. Read the original PDF.