Signs with strut rile official

If City Council member Joseph Caetano has his way, walking roadside ads will be banned.

By EMILY NIPPS
Published August 17, 2007

TAMPA — They seem harmless enough, those dancing smoothies and costumed kings holding signs along busy streets and highways.

But City Council member Joseph Caetano says they're dangerous and illegal.

"People get distracted," Caetano said. "If someone should go haywire, someone's going to get killed."

Not only that: Constituents, namely in the real estate business, have told him the moving signs are an eyesore, hurting home sales.

Armed with his convictions and a belief that the law is on his side, Caetano has been working with city and county officials to try to crack down on the sign-carriers.

But a couple of issues are not entirely clear.

First: Are the culprits in the city? Or in the county?

And second: Are they even doing anything wrong?

Caetano said that Assistant County Attorney Adam Gormly told him a county ordinance prohibits people from holding up advertising signs in rights of way. "Sandwich boards," Caetano called them.

While the county ordinance on signs does make references to "sandwich signs," county code enforcement manager Ed Brill said that term applies to A-frame signs posted on the ground, not people walking up and down the median.

"I'm pretty sure people holding signs are okay," he said.

Gormly doesn't think so. "I guess that would be an interpretation," he said of Brill's definition of sandwich signs.

Another assistant county attorney, Cameron Clark, said that any solicitation in a right of way is illegal, citing an ordinance that prohibits people from being in or on a road "for the purpose of displaying advertising of any kind."

Technically, Clark said, solicitors cannot even collect for charity, or sell newspapers in the median, although such practices are rarely penalized.

But all of that is county law. The city of Tampa does not appear to have any rules against sign-holders, which is one reason why Caetano is trying to get the county to transfer jurisdiction, empowering the city to issue citations.

He's particularly concerned with sign-holders along New Tampa's Bruce B. Downs and Cross Creek boulevards.

Again, there are points of confusion.

Much of Bruce B. Downs and Cross Creek boulevards are county land even though the residential neighborhoods are city. But Brill, of county code enforcement, says the areas Caetano is talking about are the city's responsibility.

"I don't know if Commissioner Caetano is aware of that," he said.

Talks are premature, Caetano said, but he's determined to get to the bottom of the issue. He envisions a city free of sandwich board clutter. He hopes to allow drivers to move freely through the streets without distractions, so as to avoid a potential tragedy.

"I don't know how long that's going to take, though," Caetano said. "Government doesn't move very fast."

Emily Nipps can be reached at (813) 269-5313 or nipps@sptimes.com. 

[Last modified August 17, 2007, 00:52:05]