Sign sweep nets 119
City plans another, tougher dragnet against illegal signs
By KEVIN COURTNEY
Register Staff Writer
Saturday’s crackdown on illegal signs on city streets netted 119 offenders, most of them belonging to developers advertising new-home subdivisions, city of Napa Code Enforcement Officer Jane Thomson reported.
During a four-hour sweep, Thomson said she collected two pickup loads’ worth of signs stuck in planter and median strips or blocking the sidewalk.
Many owners of illegal A-frame signs apparently responded to the city’s advance warning by not putting them out or placing them off the public right of way, Thomson said.
Owners who lost signs on Saturday will be sent letters telling them that they can be picked up at Corporation Yard on Jackson Street, Thomson said.
Illegal signs in the public right of way have become increasingly popular as an extra way for businesses and subdivisions to advertise themselves, Thomson said. Her office was responding to a corresponding rise in public complaints, she said.
Several sign owners complained that it was unfair that downtown stores are allowed A-frame signs on the sidewalk, but businesses outside downtown are not, she said.
“I said, ‘Write your council member,’” Thomson said. It would take a change in the city code to make all A-frames legal, she said.
The sign sweep, from Imola Avenue to Trancas Street between Silverado Trail and areas west of the freeway, was intended to send a message, Thomson said.
No tickets were written Saturday. Instead, signs owners will be told what’s permitted and what’s not, she said.
In March, Thomson will do another sweep on a Saturday or Sunday. Violators will be given citations. A first-time violator can be fined $100.
Thomson noted that even downtown business owners do not have carte blanche as to where they can put A-frames. They must be within 15 feet of their front doors.
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