irvine hearts regulation

So I’m flipping channels last night and I come across the Irvine City Council Meeting on local public access. Mayor Beth Krom had the floor, and was discussing an issue near and dear to the hearts of all Irvinians: the aesthetic nuisance caused by political campaign signs. Thankfully City Council Member Steven Choi introduced a proposal to combat this evil plague. Their discussion of temporary political signs in the city right-of-way successfully put me to sleep. I had sweet dreams of municipal corpocracy.

Apparently these signs pose a distraction to drivers. In his memo Choi writes that “they created a significant visual impact to the parkway streetscapes throughout the city”.

Oh no! Don’t ruin the well-manicured conformity of Irvine streetscapes!

Choi’s proposal is to change municipal zoning codes in order to mandate signs be removed no more than 3 days after an election. Choi wants to impose “further limitations on duration of temporary signs” because “this is currently not regulated”. The limitations he wishes to enact would allow signs only to be placed at or within 150 feet of intersections and would limit one sign per candidate per intersection. He also wants to limit the size of the signs.

This ultimately affects candidates with little or no money—those who can’t afford to advertise on local media (TV, cable, print or otherwise). The city wants to eliminate freedom of speech on public roads because campaign signs “created an unprecedented blight along City streets” during the 2005 election season (which included local, county and state offices and ballot measures). I guess this proposal is Irvine’s way of thinning out the competition while maintaining that crisp façade of sartorial perfection.

Click here (pdf) to see the memo.

I wonder how Irvinians would feel if I placed some of these signs along the streetscape. Any Irvinians want to help spread the message?