Cleaning Up Campaigns

One of the biggest complaints the average person has about political campaigns is the signs that sprout like weeds on the highway medians, or get nailed to telephone poles or taped to stop signs. They clutter up the neighborhood, they look awful, and - candidates, pay attention - they're illegal! If you're running for an office, you shouldn't be breaking the law!

I have been involved in political campaigns since I was in high school (and folks, that was a long time ago!) so I understand the impulse to get your name out, any way you can. Times have changed, and cluttering up the community with signs is simply not the way to go any more. "Sign Wars" are really to get volunteers fired up and give them something to do. They are not effective in getting people to vote for you, and that's what you really want, isn't it?

So candidates, clean up your act! Put your signs in yards where people have given you permission. If you can't find anyone who wants a sign, then maybe you don't have enough support to get elected, and you need to do more campaigning.

This is a letter that Scenic Alabama sent to all the Birmingham City Council candidates who qualified for the Oct. 11, 2005 election. If you'd like to help "clean up" elections, please leave your comments here about the illegal signs you've seen (and about candidates who are doing it right). If you have pictures, please email them to scenicalabama.org, and we'll post them. Let's let candidates know that we want our neighborhoods and our votes respected!

Dear [Candidate]:

Congratulations on running for Birmingham City Council. As a candidate, you have chosen the highest level of involvement in our community, and we thank you for your willingness to serve.

On behalf of the members of Scenic Alabama, I'm writing you today to ask you to support your community by being mindful of where your campaign signs are placed. So many times, we see political signs tacked to telephone poles, taped to street signs and stuck on highway medians. They make the area cluttered and unattractive, and usually give people (including prospective voters!) a negative opinion of the candidate and even the campaign process itself.

You might not be aware that within the city of Birmingham, it is a violation of the General City Code Section 12-1-2 to attach a sign to a pole or structure in the right of way. In addition, Alabama law prohibits campaign signs on public rights of way including state highways, U.S. Highways and interstates.

We would like to ask you, as a candidate, to insure that your campaign signs are placed only on private property where your supporters have requested them. We also hope that you will promptly collect your signs as soon as the election is over. This will help keep our communities uncluttered and attractive, and help our citizens to have a positive attitude toward campaigning for public office.

Please join us as we insure that our neighborhoods, our communities and our city remain "scenic" and beautiful. Thank you!

Sincerely,


Lisa Harris
Executive Director