Signs- Everywhere A Sign

Middletown City Schools was ordered by the city of Middletown to remove several signs promoting the district’s combination bond issue and tax levy that were improperly placed around the city.

About 10 signs asking for support of the district’s 4-mill bond issue and 0.26-mill permanent improvement tax levy were found either in the right-of-way or on city-owned property (some were placed in Smith Park and the Robert “Sonny” Hill Jr. Community Center), according to city officials. A letter requesting the signs be moved was sent to the school district.

School district spokeswoman Gracie Gregory said Monday the signs are in the process of being moved.

“We had some overzealous volunteers who were just excited and didn’t know that the signs weren’t to be placed in those areas,” she said. “They just wanted to make sure they got them up in some prime spots.”

Among other rules, Middletown’s zoning ordinances indicate signs cannot be placed in city parks, within any street or highway right-of-way, obstruct any view, or cause confusion of any traffic sign, signal or device. And signs are permitted to be erected 30 days before an election, though Planning Director Marty Kohler said the city’s law director indicated that’s probably too short of a window and recommends that be extended.

Other political jurisdictions have different rules and enforcement of their rules.

Robert McIntyre, Fairfield Twp. zoning administrator, said typically political signs aren’t permitted in the right-of-way or on state highways, but they are permitted to be erected within 60 days of an election and must be removed seven days after. However, the only violation that the township will involve itself concerning campaign signs are obstruction-related — line of sight issues for motorists and blocking any traffic signs or signals.

“We don’t turn a blind eye to it, but … I’m not going to chase candidates,” he said. “The only time I’ll call a candidate is if a sign causes a visual sight impairment … that they look down and see a sign and it blocks sight of oncoming traffic.”

Sharon Smigielski, spokeswoman for the Ohio Department of Transportation District 8, said state law does not permit signs of any sort along highways or in the state right-of-way. She confirmed that a sign supporting Butler County Commissioner Cindy Carpenter, who’s running for re-election, was improperly placed along Hamilton-Middletown Road, which is also Ohio 4, in Liberty Twp.

“If said signs are causing sight distance issues, and if brought to ODOT’s attention, they will be removed by ODOT personnel and stored at the county garage where the owner can pick up,” she said.

The Ohio Revised Code really prohibits political signs from obscuring traffic signs and signals or blocking a motorists’ line of sight, said Benjamin Bates, associate professor of communication studies at Ohio University in Athens. Campaign signs on the sides of roads and in yards are seen by some as visual pollution and by others as a straw poll on the popularity of a candidate or issue, said the political advertising expert.

The amount of trust or faith a potential voter places on campaign signs is dependent on his or her involvement, Bates said. It can have what’s called a “bandwagon effect” or be seen as a necessary evil in a campaign.

“In terms of voter education, they’re not very effective if you’re trying to learn where a candidate stands on the issues,” he said. “But it can serve as an index of how much support a candidate has in a particular neighborhood or area of town.”

Bates said for the “low information voter,” campaign signs can be effective because it tells them who is running and who has the most support. But for the “high information voter,” campaign signs aren’t going to sway them.