Keep campaign signs out of right of way

 FORT WAYNE, Ind. (WANE) It’s that time of year again when campaign signs line the sides of many roads.

“We understand that people are enthusiastic about their candidate and want to go out and help anyway they can so they go place signs and they’re not really thinking about the rules, they are just placing them. I do know that a number of the candidates do talk to their staff about that,” City Utilities Spokesperson Frank Suarez said.

There are regulations as to where the signs can and can’t go. If you live in a neighborhood with a sidewalk putting the sign a few feet behind the sidewalk toward your house is okay. The sign cannot go in right of way areas. That includes areas between the road and sidewalk.

“On streets that don’t have sidewalks I think a good rule of thumb is to look at the alignment of the power poles,” Suarez said about other regulations. “They usually are right at the right of way and if you put it behind that it should be okay.”

Both city and INDOT crews are looking for signs in the right of way.

“Our workers will remove campaign signs from the state right of way and we will bring those back to our subdistrict, so people who are interested in finding where their signs have gone can contact us here and we can make arrangements for them to pick those up,” INDOT spokesperson Nichole Hacha-Thomas said.

Some neighborhoods don’t allow signs, so you should check with your neighborhood association to see if that applies to you.

If you see a sign in the right of way and you’d like to report it you can call the city at 311.