Politics & Government

Harvest Time For Campaign Sign Farms

A look at procedures for weeding out political signs in Lafayette, Moraga and Orinda.

Of course, now would be a good time for wholesale stealing of campaign signs.

Most are still there, but the campaign-sign farms are coming down around Lamorinda. It's the post-Election Day harvest festival.

Some signs are coming down in rain and wind, now. Otherwise it's the campaign workers getting out on the job.

The city of Lafayette has a one-page sheet it sends to candidates at the beginning of the campaign laying out the rules for "temporary noncommercial signs," permitted for a period of less than 90 days. That sheet is a PDF attached to this article.

"I anticipate the respective campaigns will do what they can and be diligent about it," said Mark Robbins, code enforcement officer for the city of Lafayette.

In the weeks leading up to Election Day, Robbins said, he does remove signs when he sees them impeding public rights of way. In six years on the job, Robbins has never had to enforce the ordinance and come down on campaigns.

In Orinda, the sign ordinance passed earlier this year says it's the responsibility of the candidates to remove the signs by 10 days after the event.

In Moraga also, the campaigns have 10 days to remove the signs after the election. The municipal code says temporary political signs may not exceed six square feet.


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