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CA Local Governments Crack Down on Sign Spinners

Three communities ban or restrict attention-grabbing method

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Portable-sign spinners proved a controversial topic for officials in several California towns:

• After having convened an April 15 study session, the Hanford City Council decided its sign ordinance, which forbids signage to be used off-premises or in public rights-of-way, prohibits sign spinners within the city limits. According to an April 16 Hanford Sentinel article, Vice Mayor Russ Curry bluntly asserted, “I think what I’m hearing is that the sign ordinance is a mess. It’s hard to say what’s enforceable and what isn’t.”
Fiesta Auto Insurance had received $775 worth of fines for employing a birdsuit-clad sign spinner to attract attention at a busy intersection. Its owner appealed the fines, and the city agreed to let the spinner work until the study session had been completed.
City Manager Darrel Pyle promised to ask city consultants to give ordinance revision priority, and the council asked city staff to enforce regulations with a “business-friendly attitude.”

• On April 7, Barstow’s City Council unanimously voted to prohibit sign spinners from operating on public property, which brought vehement objections from business owners. Richard Marrinelli, who operates Superior Supplements at the City Plaza strip mall, told the Desert Dispatch, “I’m a local business, leave me alone. I’m not hurting anybody.” Gina Louza, the manager of a Little Caesar’s in the same center, said she’d likely be forced to fire her sign spinner. Barstow officials also decided to forbid inflatable signage, temporary banners and other short-term signs to grand opening and other events approved by its planning department.

• Gilroy’s City Council ignored comments from local small-business operators, which included
computer-repair, tax-preparation and auto-insurance-agency owners, and voted to ban sign spinners from public property, and also outlawed A-frame signs within the city limits.
 

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