Chris sent in a reminder that postering is legal in Seattle. Apparently, some self-appointed pole cleaners have been pulling down signs unwarranted, including those for the Wallingford Walks.
We’ve noticed that our Wallyhood signs tend to disappear from any pole on 45th St within hours, it seems, of going up, which is a frustration. We believe this blog is a useful service to the community, and whoever is “cleaning” 45th St is, in effect, depriving people of a free, useful news source and community gathering place. In the name of…sterility?
(Quick plug: if you agree that Wallyhood is a valuable community resource, do us a favor and send your friends and neighbors a link. It’s value to all of us grows with the number of people reading and involved.)
Chris included this link to the official postering rules for all to review. In brief:
- Posters can be hung without a permit – no permit fees are required.
- Posters can be placed on utility poles, street light poles, and on traffic sign posts except that:
- No posters are allowed on stop or yield sign posts or on the backs of those signs;
- Posters that share poles or posts with traffic signs cannot face the same direction as the traffic signs.
- Include a printed posting date in the lower left corner of each poster;
- Make your posters out of thin and flexible paper, cardboard, or plastic.
- Posters may be displayed for 30 days or until the date of any event advertised, whichever time comes first. The person or organization hanging the posters has a 10-day grace period to remove the posters before the City can charge costs for removal.
So, to whoever is pulling down the posters, please let them be. They’re a friendly, colorful, harmless way the community can communicate with itself.
If you really want to clean up, go sweep in front of Kate’s Pub or the old Loki Cafe.
Correct me if I’m wrong, however I believe this used to be illegal in Seattle. I remember seeing city workers years ago pulling all signs off utility poles on a regular basis. Perhaps some people still think its illegal, and therefore are pulling things down?
I pull down Yard Sale signs that are out of date.. should I stop?
Perhaps add some verbiage “Please do not remove poster until October 29, 2009. Seattle Municipal Code 15.48.105.”
I saw an older man pulling down a blue poster on Meridian and 44th the other morning: he may be responsible for some of the removals. I meant to see if the sign was for an past event, but didn’t see another on my walk, so can’t confirm. Anyhow, forgive the stereotyping, but I suspect he’s not reading the blog.
Bill@1: Yes, postering used to be illegal in Seattle, under City Attorney Mark “Civility” Sidran’s regime. It’s been non-illegal since 2002.
maybe i’m missing something…but why would anyone care enough to pull down a poster that someone else put up? even if it was illegal. it’s not litter or trash on the ground. next time the sounders ‘scarf’ wallingford…maybe the poster police will throw those away too?
Yes, it does seem odd that anyone would take down these posters. Perhaps there are some rival Wallingford bloggers out there? 😉
From what I understand the poster-puller-downers (with an emphasis on the downers) are two or three self-appointed neighborhood guardians believing they are doing a beneficial service for Wallingford. I’ve more or less given up trying to put up posters for http://www.GreenWallingford.ning.com.
You’d think our Wallingford sustainability group and your communication network would be perceived of as providing a service to the community, no? Please stop and talk to the people pulling down posters when you see them and try to reason with them. If enough of us do maybe they’ll stop.
I see a guy around Meridian & 44th/45th taking down posters all the time (probably the same one meganc mentioned). If you want to set up a sting operation, I suggest putting a poster up on the light pole outside the WaMu branch at around 7:30 AM. That’s one of his favorites. Then have a seat on the bench and make sure you bring a newspaper with eye holes.
One thing no one has addressed here is that sometimes these posters stay up long after they are useful. At that point, I think they are fair game. A friend of mine finally took it upon herself to take down signs that up more than a month after a neighborhood event.
I am genuinely curious to have your thoughs on this: How long is long enough for a poster to be up? I want to help find your lost dog–I always read those–but do the posters need to stay up for two months, until they are little shreds of paper, fluttering in the breeze on my corner lightpost? I haven’t taken any down, but man, they look like crap after a while, and they create litter.
So I guess I would say please remember to remove your posters, if they have been up for a while. Or at least replace them with appropriate new ones.