I have always enjoyed walking in the urban landscape. It allows me to check out the store windows, restaurant menus, and feel the rhythm of my home turf. Being inconvenienced by manmade obstacles during my travels in a changing, growing city is understandable. Construction projects and repairs to sidewalks keep me alert and awake during my walks. And while I usually find sidewalk cafes an intrusion and I feel a bit of pique as I move around them, that section of the sidewalk has been approved for such use by the city so accept them I must.
One thing that is not approved for the sidewalks on most of Capital Hill, or on any of the sidewalks of First Hill, and which sometimes make me feel like I am on a slalom course, is the ever growing number of A frame or sandwich board signs. I really do understand the need for greater visibility for your business in our ever more cluttered landscape. I know it is harder and harder to capture the hearts and minds of consumers. But quite frankly these sandwich boards signs littering the sidewalks are a sure way to get me to bypass your business in the same way I have to bypass your signs.
If the city would like to make some money tickets should be issued to the hundreds of violators of this provision of our city code. And then ticket them again and again until they either work to change the law or change their behavior. If it is so vital to the success of your business then convince the city and its residents of that.
The following paragraphs come from the website for the city of Seattle.
A-FRAME
Provides important identification of businesses located off street level. The Seattle Department of Transportation (SDOT) regulates the placement of A-frame signs in public rights-of-way because they can sometimes clutter sidewalks and pose a safety hazard for the visually and physically impaired. Currently, A-frame signs are illegal except in a City-approved district that has obtained a street use permit to allow and regulate A-frame signs (see BIA).
Current districts with City approval for A-frame signs:
- Businesses of Broadway
- Pioneer Square Community Association
- Pike Place Market Historical District
Frequently asked questions:
Who can have an A-frame Sign?
Only businesses within the districts listed above are legally approved for A-frame signs.
How do I obtain A-frame signs approval for my district?
You need to have a business district group that has been approved by the City Council such as a BIA, historic or landmark district or Chamber of Commerce. 60% of all businesses in the area need to sign a petition approving the designation and you need $1 million in liability insurance with the City named as additionally insured (this could be a rider on an existing insurance policy). The BIA would then need to apply for and obtain a Street Use Annual Permit to allow and regulate A-frame signs.
So, good story. NEWsworthy and dead on RIGHT as rain.
But this tells us how to get an A frame sign installed.
Now how about a little info for the rebel alliance, instead: like how to petition the city to remove the BIA’s garbage, er, “marketing tool”, from the residents’ urban village?? These sandwich boards obstruct the transportation system, the freeway, of our neighborhood (our freeway happens to be for peds and not trucks).
Or, to really run the metaphor fully, should we just stage a midnight wompat run in beggar’s canyon? I have crowbars and sledges and they’re nearly as good as turning the proverbial targetting computer off. Just sayin’.
The restriction, even in these zones is for businesses off street level, correct? 2nd story or higher? Is there also a limit to the number of signs a business can have? I have often seen multiple signs for a single business, many blocks away (Turn here for_______!) Seattle has strict ordinances on billboards, and it seems (increasingly) that businesses are getting around this with A boards.
Also – with the ban on postering phone poles lifted, there should be a requirement to REMOVE your posters after your event is done. This goes for yards sales / lost kitty posters, too. Poles are FAT with years of posters. I’d be in favor of banning them again. Really, w/ facebook and the internet… has anyone ever seen a phone pole poster and thought – ‘Hey – I want to go to that!’