This Joe Merrill for Mayor political lawn sign is well placed, as it is on private property.
To the left and right of this frame is something that's seen frequently around the city now. Two signs for the same political candidate on one property. According to city code, this is illegal.
This Matt Ryan for Mayor sign is illegally placed, on city property, between the sidewalk and the curb. This sign must either be moved to the opposite side of that sidewalk, or it must be removed, according to city code.
This Matt Ryan political yard sign is well placed, on private property.
In this photo, there are two political lawn signs on the same property - a violation of city code. (The second sign is more difficult to see in this photo, from this angle. The second sign faces the other street, as this property is a corner lot.)
’Tis the season for political lawn signs, so step right up for your annual lesson on how it can, and cannot go.
So far in the City of Binghamton we’ve been graced by a bevy of Matt Ryan multi-colored signs, and a smattering of Joe Merrill signs. They’re running in a primary to see who gets local Democrats' nod in the booth come November.
So far, both candidates have been in violation of City of Binghamton law, Ryan to a much greater extent. (I was in contact with the City Clerk's office for this article, and mentioned just one Merrill sign I'd spotted that was in violation. Merrill responded in writing immediately.)
"I've already corrected two people (who have placed) mine," Merrill wrote. "I'm probably the worst one yelling about it because I don't need any problems. Please give me a shout if you find any of mine that are not, they will be fixed by the end of the day."
If you cruise the streets of the city, at the moment you’ll see several more Ryan political support signs than those from the Merrill camp. Ryan has more dots on the map, and his signs also violate the city’s code many more times. His people have either placed more than one of his signs on a single property, or they've placed signs on the strips of turf between sidewalks and the street which, technically speaking, is city property.
It was an entertaining exercise calling around to see who knew what about the yard signs.
A quick call to the Broome County Elections office got the following response: “You’ll have to call your town about that.”
Eileen Miller in the Binghamton City Clerk’s Office was, as always, a great help and she sent me via e-mail the following, which lays out guidelines clearly:
Political signs, provided that such signs are not more than 32 square feet in area if located in a commercial or industrial district or four square feet in a residential district; are limited to not more than one per lot; are located entirely on private property pursuant to the owner's consent; are clearly marked with the name, address and telephone number of the person responsible for the removal of such sign; are erected not more than 60 days prior to any general, special or primary election, and are removed within 14 days following such election; and are erected only in the district in which the candidate is running for office.
But I still had a question about the authority to remove the signs.
From the end of 1999 to the end of 2003, I served as Deputy City Clerk for the city. Howard Dugo was my boss, serving as City Clerk. He’d been clerk for several years and knew the routine by rote. I tried calling Howard this week, but he was away on vacation.
I recalled that when I worked with Howard, when we received a complaint call about an ill-placed political sign, we’d send a letter to that candidate’s camp. That contact name, address and phone number was supposed to be affixed to each sign placed throughout the community.
Sometimes they were, but often they weren’t.
Binghamton being a relatively small political realm, however, we usually could find a contact. If they put their sign(s) into compliance (by either moving or removing them, or adding the proper identification information), they were good to go. But many times there would be no action, and the signs would be removed.
Back then, Howard told me that as City Clerk and Deputy Clerk, we had the authority to remove the signs that were not in compliance. I was asked to remove a few – specifically for the Garo Kachadourian City Council campaign, back then – and I did.
Years later, Garo confronted me, saying I “stole” his signs. I told him I was simply doing my job and that the signs were placed on city property. We both eventually got a laugh out of it, especially when he realized I wasn’t about to deny that, “Yes, I removed your signs. It was around noon on a sunny weekday at a very busy intersection. I wasn’t trying to hide anything.”
There were other times when Howard would request that the police officers of the Traffic Division go out and pull signs that were not in compliance with city code. But Eric Denk, who took over as City Clerk after Howard and I left the office, had more information for me.
“The regulations stipulate that political yard signs must be 100 percent on private property,” said Denk, who served as clerk from 2004 to 2006, and is now clerk to the Broome County Legislature. These issues are fielded by personnel who deal with zoning enforcement and code enforcement, he added.
"The City Clerk never really had anything to do with it, on paper," Denk said. "I suspect that the city, in general, didn’t want anything to do with it, so Howard was willing to handle it because he's a nice guy. Back then, City Clerks administered elections so someone probably thought, 'hey, let’s have the City Clerk be responsible for illegal political signs.'"
Denk went on to say that his interpretation of the law is that anything – including a political yard sign – that is placed “in the utility strip (between the sidewalk and the curb) can be considered garbage and can be hauled away.”
I laughed and asked if, then, a private citizen could legally chuck a lawn sign posted in that utility strip. We never really did come to a conclusion, but we agreed it might be akin to someone sifting through your garbage at the curb the night before your pickup.
“Which is also illegal, isn’t it?” I said.
“I think anything that goes to the curb is then, technically, city property,” responded Denk, who served two terms on Binghamton City Council, and who also ran for mayor.
Denk said that there was another area of question when he served as City Clerk.
“When I was clerk, I drafted some language to address properties that did not have sidewalks and/or curbs and submitted it to the city’s Planning Department,” he said, but that change apparently has not yet made it into the city’s code language, which was last updated December 15, 2006.
“If it hasn’t been done yet, it’s my opinion that it should be done in the future,” Denk added.
Ted Tedino returned my call shortly after I spoke with Denk. Tedino works in the city’s Building Bureau. In his voice message, he said that he handles complaints about political signage.
“That’s me. I’ve never had to cite anyone for political signage,” Tedino said. “If they’re in the city right-of-way, then I contact the campaign manager and get them to put it back on the other side of the side walk. That’s the violation.
“If they have more than one, I tell them, get it outta there,” he added.
Tedino also said that before he retired, Chadwick sent letters on July 28 to “all the campaigns,” reminding them of the city guidelines.
So, if you see a political sign on your street, in your neighborhood or, for that matter, anywhere in the city, that does not comply with the city’s laws? I encourage you to contact the proper authorities (Tedino can be reached by calling 772-7004) in order to better hold everyone to the same standard.
And now, for something completely ... well, similar.
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