The posting of bills, placards, signs or other notices upon city [property], or within the public right of way is prohibited, except when authorized by the Director of Public Works or his or her designee.The ordinance would also grant the Director of Public Works the authority to enforce the ordinance.
Enforcement shall be performed by the Director of Public Works or his or her designee.The ordinance change (FULL TEXT) is targeted at political signs, and would alter two existing ordinances.
It would eliminate an existing ordinance (§214-12) that currently gives the elected Public Works and Facilities Commission authority to grant permission for signs in parks, and the zoning enforcement officer and the head moderator at designated polling places the power to enforce the ordinance.
It would also alter an ordinance (§262-41) that very simply says, "The posting of bills, placards, signs or other notices without legal right upon any building, wall, fence, post, utility structure or pole, or tree within or adjoining any street, highway, alley or other public way is prohibited."
Why now?
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| Director of Public Works and Candidate for Mayor, Bill Russo |
Bauer told The Eye that in the most recent municipal election cycle, there were multiple complaints from candidates about lawn signs placed illegally on school property, rights of way, and other city property. When complaints came in to the Mayor's office, the Planning Department, or the Police, Public Works would be tasked with removing the offending signs.
Bauer said, "The ordinance was written to give Public Works the authority to do what they were told to do anyways."
The Director of Public Works, Bill Russo, launched his campaign for Mayor on April 24.
To paraphrase a famous book review, "This ordinance fills a much-needed gap." The gap, in this case, is the much-needed division between the power of elected officials and appointed municipal employees. To argue that since a city employee is "tasked" with carrying out the decisions of an elective body, he should therefore just be given the authority to make the decision in the first place is ludicrous. Would the Mayor or Common Council (elected positions) be willing to cede decision-making authority to those city workers tasked with enforcing them? Probably not. With eight Council positions open in the next election, would voters (re)elect anyone who would so blatantly disregard their choice of where they would like that authority to rest? Probably not.
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