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Aug

20

Change, one person at a time: Pepper Pike to change political yard sign ordinance


I’ve been informed that Pepper Pike Mayor Bruce Akers and the Pepper Pike City Council, at this evening’s meeting, agreed to suspend enforcement of the town’s political yard sign ordinance (which prohibited residents from placing more than one yard sign in their yard during the 30 day period allotted for posting such signs before an election) for now and will be having a new ordinance drafted for approval.

You can read some of the backstory here, but the gist is that others have raised this issue in the past, with no luck. I began to lobby for the change over the last several months and continued to press for it even more so after Harrison, Ohio was sued by a McCain supporter over that town’s unconstitutional political yard sign ordinances.

This matter has never been about partisan politics.  It has been about the freedom of speech permitted in political expression and the fact that every single other municipality surrounding Pepper Pike as well as on the West Side of Cleveland, comparable to Pepper Pike, has more lenient political yard sign laws.

Voters have the right to express support for as many candidates as they want.  Municipalities need to allow voters to use that right, if they so choose.  With more lenient rules, Pepper Pike residents, just like those elsewhere, can express who they prefer for president, for Ohio Attorney General and, sadly or not, for Ohio’s 11th Congressional district.

Without a change in the Pepper Pike ordinance, we would be restricted to choosing just one race, and one candidate.

I want to thank those council members who’ve been supportive and also Mayor Akers. Although I wasn’t at the meeting this evening, I respect his lengthy and legacy-worthy years of serving this town.  I do not always agree with him, but I would never disrespect him.  And I am certain he would never disrespect a resident who likewise just wants to experience the fullest extent of her constitutional freedoms, should she so choose.

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By Jill Miller Zimon at 11:13 pm August 20th, 2008 in Announcements, Elections, OH17, OH24th, Ohio, Pepper Pike, Politics, Voting 

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One Response to “Change, one person at a time: Pepper Pike to change political yard sign ordinance”

  1. 1 Pepper Pike suspends political yard sign restrictions, Build-A-Sign offers free signs | Writes Like She Talks on August 25th, 2008 2:42 pm

    [...] to the first, I even spoke to Mayor Bruce Akers about the suspection of enforcement of the sign restrictions yesterday at the Pepper Pike Ice Cream Social. He was very gracious (about the law suspension part [...]

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