Candidate Ends Resistance and Removes Illegal Signs : Thousand Oaks: Campaign billboards come down after the city threatens a criminal prosecution.

After weeks of resistance, Republican Assembly candidate Alan Guggenheim on Tuesday bowed to pressure from Thousand Oaks officials who threatened to file criminal charges for failing to remove illegal political signs.

The Newbury Park businessman had refused to remove eight signs that publicized his campaign for the 37th Assembly District seat, despite receiving two written warnings from the city that the signs violated strict limits on size and height, officials said.

City officials said other candidates also violated the city’s sign ordinance, but Guggenheim was the only candidate who immediately refused to take corrective action.

“We’re doing this because we’re getting complaints every day from other candidates who say, ‘What the heck is going on?’ ” Thousand Oaks City Atty. Mark G. Sellers said. “Everybody who wants to represent this community has said, ‘We’re willing to comply by the local rules.’ This is the first time I can recall a blatant disregard” for the ordinance.

Guggenheim removed the signs that violated the city’s rules within hours of being informed of possible criminal prosecution.

Initially, Guggenheim did not remove his billboards on the advice of a consultant that Thousand Oaks’ 22-year-old sign ordinance might be unconstitutional. But he said he decided to take down the signs because he did not want negative publicity stemming from legal troubles during the final three weeks of the primary campaign.

“It’s just ridiculous,” Guggenheim said of the city’s sign law. “I think it was blown out of proportion.”

Guggenheim, a three-year resident of Thousand Oaks, is one of seven candidates competing in the June 2 primary for the Republican nomination in the 37th Assembly District. The district encompasses Thousand Oaks, Moorpark, Camarillo, Oxnard and Port Hueneme.

Guggenheim, a conservative, took a shot at Thousand Oaks’ tough sign ordinance, the strictest in the county.

“As a businessman, I know that a lot of businessmen are not happy with the sign ordinance. The ordinance is too strict,” he said. “That’s why people hate bureaucracy and the politicians.”

The sign ordinance, adopted in 1970, bans temporary campaign signs from public property and rights of way. Signs cannot be placed higher than six feet and are limited in size to 12 square feet.

Guggenheim’s signs were too big and posted too high off the ground.

If the signs had remained, city officials said they would have prosecuted Guggenheim on misdemeanor charges of posting an illegal sign. A conviction is punishable by a fine of up to $1,000 and up to six months in jail, Deputy City Atty. Nancy K. Schreiner said. Schreiner said Guggenheim could still be billed for the cost of the staff’s investigation of complaints about his illegal signs. Those costs have not been tabulated, she said.

Officials said the crackdown was part of a continuing war against billboards that crop up on street corners and on buildings during the height of campaign seasons.

Many of the city’s intersections are jammed with red, white and blue signs from a variety of candidates.

Code enforcement supervisor Don LaVoie said he has received about a dozen complaints from residents about political signs. During the past two weeks, he has picked up between 25 to 30 signs from various candidates.

“These are people that are going to be upholding the law, you’d think they’d want to comply with the law,” LaVoie said. “They’re blighting the city with signs.”

LaVoie said other candidates have violated the sign ordinance, including former Ventura County Supervisor Madge Schaefer, who is also running for the 37th Assembly District seat.

Schaefer said a sign that she believed had been planted on private property was actually placed on city-owned land. When city officials pointed this out, Schaefer quickly had the sign moved across the street to a legal location.

Schaefer, who once served as a councilwoman in Thousand Oaks, said she complained to the city about its failure to remove Guggenheim’s signs, because they were in violation of the ordinance.

“The only criticism I have is the city didn’t enforce its sign ordinance. Then, when everyone decided to do the same thing as Guggenheim, they decided to enforce it,” she said.

Another complaint over Guggenheim’s signs came from the campaign office of Oxnard Mayor Nao Takasugi, another Assembly candidate. Takasugi said he was worried that Guggenheim’s signs have eclipsed those of other candidates, including his own.

“I’ve seen his all over,” Takasugi said. “They’re 32-square-foot signs hanging on walls, fences and poles. All the rest of us are abiding by the rules set down by the city. Why can’t he?”