Police support..., Pueblo, and Falcone signs reported today.

2 Police support (Falcone, Horton, Redd) at Arrellaga, close to the freeway onramp. (As of 11/1, signs removed.)

1 Pueblo at Quinientos/Soledad. (Another Pueblo sign was reported, 2 times, on Las Positas at Cliff Drive, but this could not be verified- nor the No on 74,75,76, also reported at that location.

1 Iya Falcone sign on Quinto Street, between de la Vina and Chapala.

Also: an illegal Quintero sign was reported on W. Valerio/Mountain Ave, but this could not be verified. Quintero signs on W. Micheltoreno, the bridge area, also were reported again. The Ebenstein sign there is gone.

Notes: There are a number of NO on 74-75-76 signs illegally-placed; these are the responsibility of the California Teachers Association, say the signs' small print. (What a lesson in civics!)

A comment sent by elcxxx@yahoo.com, reporting illegal signs: "This blog is a great service and shows which candidates and endorsing organizations really care and which do not and are arrogant." I agree!!! but note that the campaigns and organizations, for the most part, have been responsive. The Zoning Department said today that they had noticed that some signs had been moved/removed from illegal places. No e-mail is available for Mr. Quintero; only Mr. Tyler has been completely non-responsive.

Illegal signs belonging to Lanny Ebenstein and Terry Tyler remain on Las Positas opposite Adams School.

Three illegal "Support Your Police" signs (Falcone, Horton, Redd) on Sola Street corners of Anacapa Street (2) and Santa Barbara Street (1);

Two illegal Lanny Ebenstein campaign signs: 1 at La Cumbre Road heading towards Hope Ranch; 1 at the previously noted Sea Edge and Cliff Drive.

A virtual star to the following campaigns:

Police sign supporting Falcone, Horton, Redd at W. Pueblo St., removed.

Redd campaign sign at Clinton Terrace/Alegria moved.

Horton campaign sign on Laguna Street moved to private property, the hedge.(10/28)

Ebenstein campaign sign on W. Micheltorena St removed. (10/29)

House campaign signs at Sola/Alta Vista and W. Valerio St moved to private property. (10/29)

PUEBLO sign for House/Channing on Montecito Street by the Eastside Library has been moved to a private hedge. (10/31)


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(We'll make efforts to check on the signs listed as illegally posted, but to assure a virtual fairness star on this blog, , campaigns are encouraged to send notices to signs05@cox.net.)

Please see, too, today's Barney Brantingham's column in the SB News-Press. This effort to have political signs placed where they belong, on private property, not littering public spaces, has deep roots within our community.

It is a matter of respect and consideration for the public — as well as fairness. It's an "issue," Barney wrote, "that comes up every single election and one I've campaigned about."

We here, including e-mailers and cellphone-carrying joggers, will continue to keep eyes peeled throughout this long campaign period.

October 27 — some newly posted in illegal spots and others remaining:
Lanny Ebenstein: 1 illegally-posted sign remains on W. Micheltoreno west of the overpass, and 1 on Las Positas opposite Adams School.

Pueblo, promoting G. House and D. Channing: 2 at the Mission Street-Modoc Road/St. Andres intersection (most of the Pueblo signs at this intersection are placed in legal locations.)

Charles Quintero: 2 on W.Micheltoreno, west of the bridge, on both sides of the street, on city-owned property; 1 on East Haley near Garden; 4 signs on Carrillo Street, hillside, which are at the very least questionable (see earlier posts for a few pictures.) Mr. Quintero's e-mail address is unknown or perhaps non-existent; there is no address on the signs. It would be good if someone would notify his campaign of the illegally-posted signs.

Terry Tyler: 1 on Las Positas, opposite Adams School.

Telephoned report received of illegal Horton campaign sign on Laguna Street between Islay and Pedregosa.

SPECIAL CATEGORY: CAMPAIGN SIGNS THAT ARE QUESTIONABLE

These are signs that are located in sites of questionable legality. Reports have come in about the signs and they have been verified as being questionable in at least one of several aspects: whether the candidate/organization has had permission from the property owner — or whether they are on public property — or if there is an amorphous publc-private zone.

This blogsite owner (and co-participants in our Fair Sign endeavor) will check further; if they can not be verified as illegaly placed, the listing will be removed — or left in this questionable category if the sign(s) may be legal but the sign owner(s) can not provide reasonable evidence of permission. Such evidence would be a simple statement that so-and-so, property owner, said it is okay to place the sign.

NB: This is a voluntary effort to encourage fairness for all, not an attempt to call out, Gotcha!

Specifically:
PUEBLO signs promoting Grant House, Dianne Channing: 2 at the intersection of Carrillo and San Andres; (listed as questionable 10/25) - original (10/24) listing challenged by Harley Augustino as being on "the house side of the sidewalk."

Several Charles QUINTERO signs on Carillo Street, hillside;

And from a Goleta correspondent, driving on Cathedral Oaks between Turnpike and Patterson: "What an odd place for the police and Iya Falcone to choose to advertise themselves (and L. Redd and R. Horton)!"

On the Carrillo Street hillside, someone covering most bets or signs trespassing....

From e-mails and my own verification, here are the locations of illegally-placed campaign signs:
Lanny Ebenstein: (4) State Street/San Onofre; Cliff at Sea Edge. Not pictured in this post: also on Santa Barbara/Constance - see earlier post; in addition, but not clearly photographed today is one on W. Micheltorena near the bridge on the bank, as one heads East.


Grant House: (2) 1228 W. Valerio and also at Alta Vista/Sola

Police group sign promoting Falcone, Horton, Redd at 114 W.Pueblo; this sign says at the base: "The campaign is responsible for the posting and removal of this sign."

Pueblo sign promoting Grant House, Dianne Channing: 1 at Montecito and Voluntario - see earlier post;

Loretta Redd sign at Clinton Terrace/Alegria.

Terry Tyler sign at 212 E. Mission (see previous post - Redd sign moved to legal location.)

Sunday update:
Kudos to Grant House for moving his campaign signs and writing: "Thank you for taking this on. I have moved or removed all the Grant House signs you have mentioned and a few more I have seen as I walk precincts and drive around. We are briefing everyone associated with my campaign where the signs are appropriate and where they are not."


Kudos to the Loretta Redd campaign for removing both her signs at APS/Moreno and moving her sign at 212 E. Mission, putting it on the fence where it is legally located.


Clarification: the Blum campaign signs at E. Mason by Salinas are on private property.

And no new illegally-placed signs were seen and reported!!!

October 22, a drizzly Santa Barbara Saturday, illegally-placed campaign signs were seen and photographed/reported to this site:
Lanny Ebenstein 1 at Santa Barbara and Constance - the other two at the same property were off public property;
Pueblo, 1 at Montecito and Voluntario;
Loretta Redd: 2 at APS and Moreno; 1 at 212 East Mission;
Terry Tyler: 1 at 212 E. Mission;
2 questionable Marty Blum signs were seen at East Mason by Salinas; "questionable" because when there is no sidewalk, where, in front of a private house, is the public property?

With these few exceptions, the signs have been properly placed. Congratulations to all the campaigns for being responsive and responsible!

On October 16, a flurry of more notices of illegally-placed signs came in and photos were taken and notices sent to the candidates; we were too busy this week to check whether the signs were moved.



Illegally-placed signs belonging to the following candidates were noted:
Mayor Marty Blum, 1 sign on East Los Olivos — immediate response that the sign was moved;
Grant House, signs at Mission nr. Laguna, Garden/Junipero, Chapala/Junipero - no response to e-mails;
Pueblo — 1 sign on 2300 block of Anacapa — response by Harley Augustino.
Loretta Redd, sign on East Mission — no response to e-mail;
Terry Tyler, signs on Garden/Junipero and on E. Mission — no response to e-mails.

Also on October 14, wrongly-placed Pueblo signs were reported on Mason and Quinientos Streets; as of today, those signs have been moved to private property.

And on October 15, on Carpinteria Street, four more illegally-placed signs. E-mails were sent to Pueblo and Council candidates Grant House and Dianne Channing. As of today, the signs have been moved to private property.

A sign posted on public property, Cesar Chavez/Montecito Streets — and removed on request.

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Signs seen as posted illegally 10/13, on the median strip of APS — and then removed on request to mayoral candidate Lanny Ebenstein.

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Two signs promoting City Council candidate Loretta Redd were seen and photographed on Las Positas/ Modoc, another on APS — pix apparently taken from a moving car and forwarded to me who forwarded them to Ms. Redd. The Las Positas/Modoc sign was removed; that on the APS corner remains.

THE BEGINNINGS

This is how it all began on October 4, with an aggressive little sign at the intersection of Garden and Guiterrez Streets.

On spotting that political semaphore at the busy intersection, messages were sent to the SB Mayor and City Council members: ifalcone@ci.santa-barbara.ca.us, rhorton@ci.santa-barbara.ca.us, dsecord @ci.santa-barbara.ca.us, daswilliams@ci.santa-barbara.ca.us, bbarnwell@ci.santa-barbara.ca.us, hschneider@ci.santa-barbara.ca.us and MBlum@SantaBarbaraCA.gov.

There were prompt replies from Mayor Blum, Council members Brian Barnwell and Dr. Secord. Dr Dan — how he, truly responsive to the public, will be missed from the Council, even probably by those who disagree with him! — immediately offered to remove the sign, adding when warned about the busy intersection, "I'm a politician. Think I'm not agile?"

Parenthetically (to signage): one might have thought that with the increased salaries that went into effect on July 1, augmenting the full health benefits plus other benefits, including travel expenses and pensions, making Council work, equivalent to more than the full-time, "living wage," presently sought for some workers, at about $15/hour + benefits, there would be increased response to the public.

If so, the proverbial "one" would be wrong, according to several observers. Those who were responsive, remain responsive. Tops on that list are Mayor Blum and Council member Secord, followed, not too closely, by Council member Barnwell; trailing, responding, I am told, apparently according to their own personal interests, are Council members Williams, Schneider, Horton, and Falcone. ...Hearsay, hearsay, hearsay, but definitely heard said — and so noted.

The sign came down. Ms. Falcone maintained her campaign workers took it down; not unlike a toadstool in the woods, a second sprouted several days later in the same place; it also came down.

But from that perhaps humble sign and the days it took to get it off the public property, a make-signs-legal! cause was born: Out of fairness to all, to have a level playing field (as much as possible within our $-rules electoral system) for everyone — the election ordinances must be respected.

The rules are clear: private campaign signs belong on private property.

And the response? The candidates have moved their signs. There is now a small team of watchers, reporting.

Join us: If you see a sign, write to the address established for this cause: signs05@cox.net - if you're sending a digital picture, please use as subject line, Illegal sign (location). Comments here are welcomed; anonymous ones, though, will be removed.

Thanks! Let's help keep our elections fair!

Betsy R. Cramer

Please send street addresses and digital pictures of any illegal political sign you see and we'll post it on this blog — and forward notice to the campaigns. Note that the street median strips, as on APS, and the area between the sidewalk and the street, as well as utility poles and so forth are all public property and are offlimits to campaign signs.

This is voluntary effort, unaffiliated with any campaign. E-mail: signs05@cox.net

Hey, don't scoff (too much!) ...it's a small step, but we seem to be making a difference!

Voluntary compliance is best — but, if you prefer, complaints about an illegal sign should go to the Community Development staff in charge of zoning enforcement matters at 630 Garden Street; 564-5470. Remember that the city staff has a heavy workload....