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Tired of the ugly plastic signs on telephone poles and neutral grounds that blight the city's landscape? This is a growing problem all over the U.S., and not just a post-Katrina phenomenon. There's even a national group called CAUSS that works to reduce this street spam (a.k.a. bandit signs). Here's some info on the problem in New Orleans and what you can do about it.
The Law in New Orleans
If you drive or walk around New Orleans, you'll see thousands of plastic ads on telephone poles and neutral grounds for contractors, windshield replacement, tree stump removal, dating services, "we buy houses," etc. All these signs are illegal. The New Orleans City Code states that "it shall be unlawful to place a sign upon a public street, public sidewalk, public right-of-way, or other public improvement in any public street or grounds, or on any public building or structure of any kind belonging to the city, or in any public place, unless express written consent is granted by the city" (Section 134-121).
There are a few exceptions on neutral grounds: It's OK for real estate agents to post signs for open houses for 48 hours before the open house. Campaign workers can put up candidate signs two days before and after election. People can post garage sale signs for 48 hours before the day of the sale. Signs announcing "official neighborhood or community meetings" may go up five days ahead of time. And signs about lost or found pets can be posted for up to 10 days. Also, the city has the authority to allow non-profit groups permission to post signs on neutral grounds for up to 90 days if they pay $50 per sign (Section 106-214-f).
Removing Street Spam
The city can fine businesses that post illegal signs $25 per sign, according to this city press release. However, the city can't keep up with every sign blighting New Orleans, so citizens can still play a major role in removing them. This is explicitly permitted by the City Code, which states: "Any unlawful sign found within a public right-of-way shall be immediately seized and removal thereof by anyone is hereby authorized" (Section 134-121-b).
Removing illegal signs is pretty easy, but here are a few tips that may be helpful:
- Low: Obviously you can remove signs on the neutral grounds just by pulling them up. Signs on telephone poles are held in place by staples or nails. Even so, many are within reach, so just remove them by grabbing them from the top with both hands and pulling hard.
- Medium: Some signs on telephone poles are posted just out of reach of the average pedestrian, so you need a tool to reach higher and yank them down. This link on the CAUSS site provides some good ideas. A long piece of wood with a screw through it works fine as well.
- High: A very small percentage of signs are out of reach even with a tool. For these, you may need a stool or a stepladder plus a tool. Once you remove a sign, dispose of it properly, either at home or in a nearby garbage can or dumpster.
It’s not worth getting hurt doing this, so be careful:
- Telephone poles and signs sometimes have stray nails, and it’s easy to get scratched. You might want to wear gloves.
- Watch out for traffic.
- If possible, work with other people. It makes it more fun and faster, and there’s safety in numbers if you encounter any trouble. (We’ve removed literally thousands of signs without any objections, but you never know.)
Never remove signs on private property, such as front lawns. In addition, as noted earlier, the City Code (Section 106-214-f) permits real estate agents to put up signs for open houses on neutral grounds the day of the open house (technically for seven hours). They're allowed one sign on public property immediately abutting the advertised property and a second directional sign no more than two intersections away. In addition, people can put up signs 48 hours in advance of garage sales.
Beyond that, you have to use your judgment and common sense. It seems reasonable to leave up paper signs for lost pets and upcoming events like plays, concerts and farmer's markets, since these are temporary and community oriented. Take them down if the event has occurred or the sign's clearly been up for months.
What About Political/Campaign Signs?
It's OK for candidates to put campaign signs on neutral grounds for 48 hours before and after an election, and to leave them up for 48 hours afterward (Section 134-122). And of course people can put up campaign signs on their private property. So campaign signs on public property that go up more than two days in advance of the election are illegal, and you should feel free to dispose of them.
Working Together to Solve the Problem
New Orleans obviously has larger problems than illegally posted signs. Even so, this is one issue that's easily solvable if enough people join together to address it. Please do what you can to remove street spam, even if it's just on your street. If you clear a street or neighborhood, sleazy businesses will be reluctant to post street spam there, since they'll be throwing away money. (Each sign typically costs the violator a dollar or more.) Encourage your friends and neighbors to remove signs as well. A few key points you might make:
- Street spam is illegal and it's OK to remove it. (Under the law, it’s the same as disposing of any other kind of litter.)
- Street spam is ugly, especially in a historic and scenic city like New Orleans. We shouldn't have to be besieged with advertising as we walk, bike or drive around.
- Street spam often promotes outright or borderline scams (e.g., dubious health treatments, disreputable dating services, high-interest loans, etc.).
- Thousands of businesses in New Orleans do not post illegal signs, so it is a myth that small businesses need to use bandit signs to succeed.
- Many of the companies posting street spam are headquartered in the suburbs, so they're coming into the city to make it look worse and profit from our residents.
- Street spam distracts drivers, increasing the chances of car accidents.
- Street spam makes it look like the neighborhood is in decline, which promotes crime and leads people to abandon the area or to stay away (a.k.a. the "broken windows" theory).
Thanks for reading -- if you have any questions about bandit signs, please email nolatoss@gmail.com.
Check out the New Orleans Bandit Sign Hall of Shame
NOLA T.O.S.S. (Throw Out Street Spam) 2012©
Anonymous
January 3 2009, 20:42:14 UTC 3 years ago
Keeping it clean
I will be in N.O. for jazz fest 2009 and hope to see the city clean. In the past, it's been a mess uptown to downtown on Magazine Street. As a visitor, I will only be ugly litter stickering as seen at uglylitter.com -- cheersAnonymous
February 3 2009, 02:39:25 UTC 3 years ago
Cover their phone #s
Hey - great page! Suggestion is to cover at least part of the spammers' phone numbers in your pic :)Anonymous
December 29 2009, 03:38:52 UTC 2 years ago
It's Your Right to Fight Blight
There are many avenues one can take to advertise legally.Don’t let bandits advertise illegally on our avenues.
http://www.fsjna.org/steps-to-stomp-out-b
January 3 2010, 22:50:02 UTC 2 years ago
Re: It's Your Right to Fight Blight
it is your right, however, the spammers are not the main ones you should be going after. who makes the signs? start with that. I am a signmaker, not anywhere near your area, so don't worry... but, along with you, I am tired of seeing "bandit" signs out there. I know what the laws are in my area, an strictly advise my clients in the official use of their small signage. The laws that you are trying to fly your operation under, don't work. There is not enough police time/space/effort to mount a concerted attack against roadside spammers. Going after the sign crafter who makes these signs, is a great first step towards cleaning up your areas. secondly.. why are you throwing away coroplast signs? do you not know that in a land fill, those signs will not decompose for eons? take the collected materials to recycle station, 100 of those 18x24 size signs weighs about 40 lbs., i'm sure that you can get a coke n burger for recycling at least that much. Once the sign shops get hounded enough.. the banditos who place the signs get fined a few times by city planners, and follow up on the phone numbers of the businesses advertised - and get that to the city planners as well. hope that helps out some in your fight.January 4 2010, 00:53:54 UTC 2 years ago
Re: It's Your Right to Fight Blight
Thanks for your comment. I don't know how easy it would be to go after signmakers. For one thing, they are not breaking law. They could rightfully argue that it's not their responsibility to keep track of where their signs end up (and signs can be used legally, i.e., on people's own front lawns).Here in New Orleans, the city has yet to take much of a role in discouraging illegal signs, but hopefully that will change at some point.
As for recycling, I'm no expert but the folks at causs seem to think it isn't feasible: http://www.causs.org/dc/dcboard.php?a