Yard sale signs are no more

At one time, most of the telephone and light poles on Solano Street looked like an art gallery for yard sale signs.

But no more.

City officials, with the backing of the City Council, are once again cracking down on the unsightly display of yard sale signs decorating the streets of town.

For a couple of weeks now city employees have been tasked with the job of removing any-and-all yard sale signs tacked, nailed, taped and otherwise adhered to poles, fences, boxes, etc.

That fact has left some yard sale enthusiasts, those holding the sales and those attending, dismayed.

Lynn Chase of Corning said she was going to complain to the City Council during its meeting on Tuesday because her yard sale signs were taken down on July 20.

She didn't show up.

"I only have one yard sale a year," Chase said. "I put my signs up and I take them down. What is wrong with that? I'm not one of those people who put a sign up and just leave it there. If you can't put a yard sale signs up around town, how are people going to know you are having one?"

Chase took her complaints to City Hall on July 20.

"They just told me about the city's ordinance concerning yard sale signs and that I needed to get a permit to even have a yard sale," she said.

The information she received is correct.

Back in May 2008 the City Council discussed the issue, at which time former Councilman Ross Turner described them as "multiplying like rats."

That discussion led to the city constructing a "community bulletin board" for yard sale advertising. The board is located at the east end of the Park-and-Ride lot at Solano and Third streets.

It is seldom used.

During Tuesday's City Council meeting, City Manager John Brewer brought in two large cardboard boxes full yard sale signs that had recently been taken down by city employees.

This is a long-running problem in the city, but Corning City Ordinance 326 states that it is "unlawful to post notices or posters to structures, signs or sign supports, utility poles or other supports without first having obtained consent of the owner of such support to post such notice or poster."

This applies anywhere in the city.

"I'm not against yard sales," said Mayor Gary Strack. "I am against people who put signs up and them don't take them down."

"There are rules," Brewer said.

These are the rules according to city ordinances: One or more persons may join together in conducting a yard sale, but are limited to two yard sales per year. A yard sale permit must be applied for and issued from City Hall previous to the sale being held.