Mayoral Candidate Ordered to Remove Illegal Posters

All mayoral candidate Luanne Pryor wanted was a little name recognition. Instead, she got a notice from the city ordering her to remove all her illegally posted campaign signs.

And for that she believes Mayor Ernie Kell is largely to blame. Pryor thinks the mayor ratted on her.

“I don’t think you do that sort of thing,” she said. “I think it’s up to the citizens” to complain.

Kell denies that he blew the whistle. He said his office staff simply passed on citizen complaints about the signs. He is competing in the citywide contest for full-time mayor, a post that was appointive up to now.

Pryor is generally believed to be among the top three in the nine-candidate field for mayor in the April 12 election. But she lacks the name recognition of veteran office-holders Kell and Councilwoman Jan Hall. That is why signs are particularly important to Pryor’s race.

Early last week, Pryor said, about 500 of her campaign signs were posted throughout the city by a Covina-based sign firm. Some of them were placed on vacant lots or construction sites, particularly along Ocean Boulevard. Pryor said that she had left placement of the signs up to the professional company, but that she has removed signs in two instances in which she received citizen complaints.

A 1977 city law requires an $80 permit for signs posted on each vacant lot and then only if the owner agrees. People are allowed to put up campaign signs on their own residential property without a permit provided they live there. Signs can also be posted without a permit by occupants of a commercial building.

City Zoning Administrator Dennis Eschen said he received a complaint about illegally posted Pryor signs from a mayor’s aide and two residents. Besides, he said, he could see the violations himself.

City Building Inspection Officer Jose G. (Joe) Osuna, who also said he saw problem signs, said he sent a violation notice to Pryor on Tuesday. She was given 10 days to remove the illegal signs or face a penalty of up to $500 and six months in jail for each day she fails to comply.

Pryor, who has called for tough zoning enforcement as an issue in the campaign, said she “called the sign company and chewed them out” Thursday and ordered removal of illegally posted signs.

Greg Hummel of the Candidate Outdoor Graphic Service said he obtained a permit for the 15-by-44-inch signs and thought he was in compliance. But Osuna said that the permit only covered occupied dwellings, not vacant lots.

Pryor questioned the mayor’s involvement in the matter. She said he mentioned the signs and accused her of “polluting the environment” when the two appeared Thursday night for the taping of a cable television show.

“I would not look for Ernie’s signs or Jan’s signs and complain about where they were. I think it’s small-town,” Pryor said.

Only an Intermediary

While insisting his staff only passed on complaints, Kell said he agreed with the city’s sign ordinance.

“People do not like signs all over vacant lots,” he said. “Environmentalists don’t like it. Preservationists don’t like it. It makes the city look trashy.”

The latest incident was not the first time Pryor has run afoul of the city’s sign law. Last November, the city ordered her to remove a campaign sign from the front of a private residence on East Ocean Boulevard.

It was not that the sign was too large or placed inappropriately. It was just too early. City law states that campaign signs cannot be posted more than 45 days before an election, Osuna said.