Stop Snipe Signs - What About SNIPE SIGNS

Snipe Signs

You've seen them before -- those plastic signs on street corners beckoning "WILL PAY $$$ FOR HOUSES," "LOSE 30 POUNDS FAST,"

"100% HOME FINANCING," and "$1000 A WEEK HOME BUSINESS," among other things. Such signs, called "snipe signs",

"street spam," and "bandit signs," are illegal in almost every Florida municipality.

The Zoning Code states ”any signs placed on public property, including rights-of-way,“ are prohibited. This includes snipe signs that

frequently advertise questionable multi-level marketing or work-at-home schemes, dubious weight loss plans, credit repair and

predatory lenders. Temporary directional signs, as in, Garage Sale signs and "Open House" real estate signs are usually tolerated.

Although a few misguided legitimate businesses use snipe signs, consider that most of the advertising you see nailed up on utility poles

resemble the irritating spam that fills your e-mail box. Do you believe you can "get paid to lose 40 pounds?" Do you think you can find a

sound insurance policy or a competitive mortgage from someone who knowingly posts illegal signs?

You can do a lot to stop street spam. Snipe signs are no different than the any other litter you see strewn along the streets.

As a resident of Palm Beach County, you have every right to pick up trash from the road, or junk nailed to a utility pole -

including snipe signs.

To the street spammers considering empty utility poles and median strips in Palm Beach County --

realize that all you will be doing is contributing to the already high pile of Coroplast and cardboard

in the County land fill (dump).

Your signs will be gone within a few hours after posting.

"Beauty belongs to all the people"

President Lyndon B. Johnson as he signed the Highway Beautification Act on October 22, 1965.

I want to make sure that the America we see from these major highways is a beautiful America.

The Highway Beautification Act (HBA), codified at 23 U.S.C. §131, is a grant-in-aid condition that States must comply with in order to receive

full Federal-aid highway funding. The FHWA is the agency charged with implementing the HBA. See 49 CFR §1.48(b)(21).

The HBA requires States to "effectively control" outdoor advertising along certain Federal-aid highway systems.

These highway systems are the Interstate system, the Federal-aid primary system (as it existed on June 1, 1991),

and the National Highway System.

Under §131(b), the failure to comply with the HBA can subject a State to the loss of ten percent of its Federal-aid highway funds.

The purposes of the HBA are set forth in 23 U.S.C. § 131(a): to protect the public investment in highways; to promote the safety and

recreational value of public travel; and to preserve natural beauty.