Yard Sign Reform Proposal
As we suspected it was an individual (there are still more) who was caught stealing yard signs this past weekend. While the guy gets some simpathy vote from the public who are sick of the signs he still broke the law.
There has been a lot of talk about how voters are receiving the barrage a yard signs and their diminishing effectiveness.
Here's my suggestion. Make a county ban on yard signs from the right of way. That is where the most ill will from the public resonates.
Some have suggested that all yard signs be banned but I'm not willing to go that far. The use of a yard sign on somebody's own property is not as much an advertisement as it is an endorsement for a candidate by an ordinary Joe. In a compromise to those who wish to see all signs gone, put a limit on the number of signs that can appear on a property.
This is what this proposal would do:
There has been a lot of talk about how voters are receiving the barrage a yard signs and their diminishing effectiveness.
Here's my suggestion. Make a county ban on yard signs from the right of way. That is where the most ill will from the public resonates.
Some have suggested that all yard signs be banned but I'm not willing to go that far. The use of a yard sign on somebody's own property is not as much an advertisement as it is an endorsement for a candidate by an ordinary Joe. In a compromise to those who wish to see all signs gone, put a limit on the number of signs that can appear on a property.
This is what this proposal would do:
- Candidates would have to interact more with the public to gain name ID
- More resources could be allocated to other parts of campaigns such as mailers and commercials
- The right-of-way gets an extreme makeover during campaign season
- Voter's rights to freedom of speech are not harmed
The end result of this kind of reform would be that the yard sign would have more value to campaigns, the public wouldn't be as annoyed by them, and there wouldn't be such an addiction to them as shown by current campaigns.
posted by Indiana Pundit at 10:42 AM
4 Comments:
Dear IP:
I'm with you on this. Plus, people who put up signs in their own yard tend to eventually take them down before they decay into the elements, which is what usually happens with signs in the right-of-way. The best argument in favor of not limiting yard signs is free speech, and this way we can all express our free speech in our yards.
Believe it or not, I am also with you on this.
I would like to see the law written so that all yard signs were placed on Private Property and were no longer allowed on Public Property...
I would of course be vehemently opposed to any restrictions about yard signs on private property...
Mike Sylvester
I would not favor this for one simple reason. You eliminate many from running a campaign. Take for example the U.S. Representative district. It covers over 200K voters. To mail something to each would cost you $60K. Then you have a local paper to deal with who just will not take you seriously even if you do get 21% of the vote.
For local races, it would be possible for mailers, but larger races where you want fresh ideas; you will stifle those who might run in order to make a positive change. It becomes about money instead of issues. People complain about the amount of money spent on races. I think good issues are more important than money. Therefore, I have a sign with two of my issues. Maybe next year there will be six issues on them.
I go around and remove my signs. I have done this the past two primaries. I re-use my signs and therefore, have a vested interest in there removal. Is it the sign itself or the number and concentration of signs that is distasteful? If you want to restrict signs, then access a fine per sign that is up seven days past the primary. The more signs you have, the more work it is to take down. How about limiting the concentration of signs? What I would favor though is no more than one sign per every other intersection.
How many like the idea of getting 12 phone calls in one day from candidates? Do you hang up or listen? Is this wasted money? What about mailers? How many throw them out before reading them? This adds to the land fill. Then we have the radio and TV, which let's face it, what is really said of substance? They are sound bites with little to no value. Then there is door to door which I have been doing. Speaking with voters directly. This type of communication gets you word of mouth - the best kind of advertisement. However, there is the problem of the shear numbers.
The News Sentinel's candidate flier did a good job of presenting each candidates issues. Every candidate was given equal space to explain their issues. I was very happy with the paper's handling. In addition the News Sentinel placed this on their web site as well as had a link to each candidates submitted answers. How many though use these sources to learn about a candidate?
I would appreciate it if anyone who reads this thinks I over use signs, in other words are they too concentrated?
I guess we will enforce the current sign ordinance from posting of sign on public property or private property unless pernission has been given...next year. All the signs in New Haven are illegal...
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