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Tampa will assign its code enforcers to sign patrol the next few Fridays with the support of the mayor, who has plucked a few illegal signs himself.
By STEVE HUETTEL
© St. Petersburg Times, published April 29, 2000
TAMPA -- Code inspectors Kevin Amos and Ralph Kelly were on a mission Friday morning: make the southern end of S Dale Mabry Highway look better. At least the publicly owned part on the roadside.
Within minutes, they spotted an insurance company's 3-foot, plastic sign just off the curb, shot a photo and threw it in the bed of their city pickup truck.
In less than a hour, the partners grabbed 15 more signs illegally placed in city right of way. Most offenders were mom-and-pop businesses and residents holding yard sales, including one who painted a kitchen cabinet door and nailed it to a telephone pole.
"I'm surprised there weren't a whole lot more," said Amos, a 15-year city inspector.
On Friday, the city tried a new tactic in its ongoing battle against sign blight.
Fourteen code inspectors swept across Tampa to clean roadsides of illegal signs: signs posted on poles, stuck in the dirt or just sitting on public right of way. On a typical day, just one or two inspectors scour the streets for signs.
But each Friday for the next few weeks, the city will assign every available code enforcement officer to the sign patrol.
Signs in the right of way are just part of the illegal sign epidemic, said Warren Bourgeois, a consultant hired by Mayor Dick Greco to come up with a plan to tackle the problem.
Most temporary signs -- whether A-frame or stuck in the ground or posted on poles -- are outlawed anywhere outdoors. Some banners hang in prohibited areas. And many stores ignore codes that prohibit signs from taking up more than 25 percent of their window space.
Bourgeois, on the job for just over a month, thinks that blitzing the roadsides each week will do the most to improve the city's appearance quickly.
"That's where the biggest part of the problem is, where we can get the biggest bang for our buck," he says.
His mission has support from the top at City Hall.
Visual blight, especially from illegal signs, is one of Greco's pet peeves. On occasion, Greco will pull over his city-issued Lincoln Continental, pop open the trunk and throw in signs he personally yanks off of roadsides.
As president of Tampa Homeowners -- an Association of Neighborhoods, Bourgeois says he used to bump heads with Greco over neighborhood concerns. But he shared Greco's loathing for ugly and illegal signs. He was hired for the $50,000-a-year consulting job after leaving as THAN's top official.
Bourgeois is sketching out a comprehensive plan for cleaning up the proliferation of illegal signs on busy commercial streets and highways in Tampa.
He wants the city sign code rewritten in a concise, easy-to-understand format. He and Greco want to lobby chain drug and convenience stores to abandon unsightly banners, flags and signs. Bourgeois wants chronic violators fined and perhaps even jailed.
His first focus is roadside signs on public property. Code inspectors can confiscate them immediately and cite the culprits.
Paper and cardboard signs go in the trash. Sturdier signs and banners are held until their owners pay $25 each. In addition, they must pay fines ranging from $25 to $500.
William Dougherty, manager of the city's standards and enforcement division, told inspectors not to look for confrontations and return valuable signs with a warning.
"Take the sign; if they come out, deal with it," he said.
That's just what happened outside Uniform Nametape, a laundry on S Dale Mabry that serves MacDill Air Force Base personnel.
Owner Linda Coleman came out and knocked on the window of Amos' pickup truck. "What is my sign doing in your truck?" she demanded.
He patiently explained that the plastic sign with changeable lettering was in the right of way and wouldn't be legal outdoors even on her property.
Coleman got the sign back but wondered aloud what good it would do inside her store.
"This cost me $150, and I'm very unhappy," she said. "I've only had it two weeks, not even. I'm on a commercial street, and I want people to see my business."
By 4:30 p.m., inspectors picked up 292 signs, most for yard sales.
Bourgeois' telephone rang constantly with business owners complaining about missing signs. "It's amazing how many people don't know what's legal," he said.