Officials explore ban on human billboards advertising on
roadsides
Gilroy – Juan Pena stands on Leavesley Road every weekend, waving a huge arrow for The Door Expo.
Lots of people laugh as they drive by and one group of kids recently pelted him with coins. But he says it’s worth standing on one of Gilroy’s busiest thoroughfares, promoting a business for $8 an hour. Pena has three kids to feed.
“I see that they laugh at me or laugh with me – I wont deny it,” said Pena, 54. “But this is how I pay for my food.”
Soon, however, he and others who gesticulate with signs on Gilroy’s traffic arteries may be out of work. City leaders are talking about banning human billboards as part of a broad crackdown on off-site signs, often planted in easy view of drivers by businesses located deep inside shopping complexes and strip malls.
The signs are most noticeable on First and 10th streets and Leavesley Road.
“I think that this is becoming a major blight in the city,” Planning Commission Chairman Tim Day said at a Nov. 2 meeting. “We’re not just talking about hand-held signs. We’re talking about the number of off-site signs that are going up … We’re talking about hundreds of signs, along with the handheld arrows and all of this kind of thing that’s going on.”
Planning commissioners voted unanimously to pass on a memorandum to city council calling for an ordinance banning such signs. In the meantime, the city may begin its crackdown on the hand-held variety through aggressive interpretations of existing laws. The city’s rule books already prohibit signs that “are designed to move” and “which because of motion or apparent motion” are a “detriment to surrounding property.”
“I think those signs people are holding, they can move around, so you could use that,” said Scott Barron, Gilroy’s zoning code enforcement officer. “It would be a little bit of a stretch, but not much.”
Other Bay Area cities have a broad range of sign policies. Sunnyvale bans all “animated signs,” which covers both people and animals who might bear placards or put on costumes as a promotional gimmick. At the other end of the spectrum, Mountain View and Salinas do not regulate hand-held signs because they consider them a form of free speech.
A simple rationale motivates those cities that do regulate signs.
“They consider them to be distracting for drivers,” Barron said. “When you have a guy out there in a wiener-dog suit, they may consider it somewhat of a safety hazard. But more of the ones I contacted did not regulate. They don’t consider it a problem. It depends on how much of a problem a city has with it, and it’s become more of an issue in this city. I saw one guy recently sitting in a lawn chair with a sign, instead of wiggling around and waving the sign around.”
But hand-held signs are the least of worries for Mayor Al Pinheiro.
“I hate to see the proliferation of A-board signs and just signs in general, especially those saying furniture stores are going out of business,” he said. “We need to get rid of banners that get put on buildings. As far as the gentleman waving a sign, it’s supposed to be temporary, so I don’t have as much of a problem with it.”
Huberto Acevedo doesn’t like A-board signs or hand-held signs, but he said they have become a necessary evil for his restaurant. El Amigo is tucked away behind the Gilroy Premium Outlets on San Ysidro Avenue, a half mile from the flood of weekend traffic that travels along Leavesley Road and the U.S. Highway 101 interchange. Business has not always been bad, Acevedo said, but he has suffered in the last year with the opening of a series of chain restaurants in the new Pacheco Pass shopping centers.
“People would just pass by and go over there,” he said. “We asked ourselves what we could do to get more people to our restaurant. It doesn’t seem professional to (use signs), because it doesn’t look good. But on the other hand, we need customers. It definitely helps. There are people coming over who pass by and say ‘Let’s have lunch at El Amigo.'”
Friday, two men with signs staked out opposite corners at the intersection of San Ysidro Avenue and Leavesley Road: one man by Denny’s waved a big arrow that read “Furniture Sale”; the other man stood by the 76 gas station, swinging a large rectangular sign advertising lunch and dinner specials at El Amigo.
As they fueled up their car a few yards away, Frances and John Gilliland said they’re not bothered by the sign men. But they questioned the effectiveness of the advertising.
“We’re from Santa Barbara and we have plenty of them down there,” Frances Gilliland said. “When I do see them I have two thoughts: What a crummy job that must be and I’m glad I don’t have to do it. At least they have a job, but I know I’ve never stopped because of one of those signs.”
City council plans to discuss an ordinance banning hand-held signs and a variety of other off-site advertising during a two-day policy summit in January. The informal policy talks are open to the public.
