Candidate Signs

[Arman]

So sick of seeing all the candidate signs on all the roadways around Irvine. Talk about sign pollution! It's quite unsightly. I know that political speech is the highest protected form of speech, but the signs don't contribute to the discussion at all. They're merely candidate names for recognition since that's how most city elections are decided: name recognition.

There wouldn't be anything illegal about me going about and taking down all the signs I see, would there?

 

[Irvinecommuter]

So sick of seeing all the candidate signs on all the roadways around Irvine. Talk about sign pollution! It's quite unsightly. I know that political speech is the highest protected form of speech, but the signs don't contribute to the discussion at all. They're merely candidate names for recognition since that's how most city elections are decided: name recognition.

There wouldn't be anything illegal about me going about and taking down all the signs I see, would there?

Yes, actually it would be illegal.
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lan...man-accused-of-destroying-campaign-signs.html

 

[Arman]

It's been over 2 weeks since the election, and yet political signs continue to litter the medians, sidewalks, and parkways. There are fewer of them, but they continue to be unsightly. The Irvine city website seems to be minimally functional today (a lot of links aren't working, whether I'm using Safari or Firefox) but I managed to submit a complaint to the city. Not sure what they can do. But I hope if enough people complain, maybe someone will realize that the winners aren't doing themselves any favors by leaving their unsightly signs polluting our views.

 

[Arman]

Within an hour of sending my email to the city, I got a call back from a city employee letting me know that they're aware of the problem, and are actively working to address it. City landscaper maintenance have been told to remove signs when they can, and the city has 3 people actively removing signs. Candidates have 10 business days from the election date to remove signs, although I'm not sure of the consequences of them not removing signs. Especially since, for example, if I'm anti-Choi, then to get back at Choi, I can actively put up more Choi signs and get him in trouble. Anyways, I was impressed by how quickly someone got back to me, and I was able to report the specific areas where I've seen signs, and the woman assured me they'd be removed.