Just ran across this, just a ramble really.

Bandit sign editorial response

Sounds like a spammer for hire got caught by code enforcement or the police. It also sounds like if he got fined for one sign he got of easy, and should keep quite. Last weekend one of my inspectors rounded up 140 KB Home signs. If you contact the local office in Jacksonville they will tell you it was not welcomed in the community. There are $49,700 in civil citation going out to them. They have 10 days to pay or it becomes $70,700. If you ask the officers that had to write and enter 140 citations, they would love to catch the SOB's that put these out for the builders. I bet they could make sure you never thought of this as a good weekend job again. $100 dollars is not a fine we like $255 - $505 per sign.

"If your not living on the edge you are taking up to much space" unknown

Way to go, Wolfrun!! 140 citations should make a difference. Keep us informed as this progresses through the system.

Newbie (not)

>Way to go, Wolfrun!! 140 citations should make a
>difference. Keep us informed as this progresses through the
>system.

KB struck a deal. They paid $35000 and promised not to spam in the county again. If the do we can go straight to $500 per sign.

"If your not living on the edge you are taking up to much space" unknown

Even so, if this word gets out to the other CE departments across the country, the spammers don't and won't stand a chance.

This is the heaviest fine I recall seeing posted on the CAUSS forum since Dallas hit "Own A Computer" back in November of 2000.

This just goes to prove that the major companies do have a "cost of doing business" built in to their blandit signs placements.

GW

If you stop and count the fines are not that high.
We issue citations for code violations. We start at $255 per violation, per day. The citations go up to $355 per violation per day. With a judge's OK we can go to $500 per violation, Per day. KB made a group of CEO's angry, we wrote 140 citations at $355 a piece. They talked to division chief and City attorney and came out with a stipulated agreement. I would like to have seen them have to pay the $49,700 the citations totaled out to, or have a judge that is tired of driving by these signs bump it to $70,700. I guess you can't get it your way all the time, but hey it was not bad.

"If your not living on the edge you are taking up to much space" unknown

What county has fined KB Builders? I still see plenty of their signs in Harris Co., TX. They leave some up in the esplanade all week long and add more each weekend.


"keep pickin' 'em up"

'Just keep pullin' 'em up'

Thank you!!! Great work. I'm glad they took the time to enter the citations. Hopefully this will send a message to other builders that their signs are not welcome.

Interesting. So they call themselves "sign runners" instead of spammers.

My conversation with one a few months back indicated he was paid 50 cents per sign each weekend to put it out and pick it back up and that he did approx 300 signs per weekend. Of course he was not pulling that trailer full of them which must net out about 600 signs. They have to nail the sign to the post for that price. I see some signs that have new signs nailed over the old post where one was cut. Ah, recycling!

But what would you bet that this is a cash business with them getting all that $150 or $300 a weekend in their pocket. Would the IRS be interested in a whistle blower if you get their name??????

Also note the he indicated that send the lawyers out on MONDAY morning, this of course after he picked up his batch of illeagl signs on Sunday night, maybe.

"It must move inventory". Even the organization all of these builders belong to, the Greater Houston Builders Association, in a e-mail, stated that they realized the "importance" of the temporary signs in each builders marketing program. Personnaly here in Harris county, they are the group to be targeted to stop this madness. If you note on their web site, the have Political Action Committies whom I sure donate big money to the local enforcement groups, like the Harris County Commissoners Court members.

Part of the problem is now there are so many signs, very few people pay attention to them. Most of the spammers that I have talked with or have watched (videoed some) seem just one step away from being homeless from their appearance and their vehicles. One left a note accusing me of "stilling" his signs.

CypressShark

Here's my reply post to the Chronicle:
Anonymous: You're financing your son's education by performing work that is violating City, County and State laws! Get a law abiding job and stop the scenic pollution of your own community. It's a monkey see, monkey do world, so you can start a trend in the right direction
by halting your illegal work and refusing to do it for builders who cannot prove it is worth one single sale. Everyone knows what an eyesore litter on a stick really is.
Skip

an Austin Sign Ranger

>Here's my reply post to the Chronicle:
>Anonymous: You're financing your son's education by
>performing work that is violating City, County and State
>laws! Get a law abiding job and stop the scenic pollution of
>your own community. It's a monkey see, monkey do world, so
>you can start a trend in the right direction
>by halting your illegal work and refusing to do it for
>builders who cannot prove it is worth one single sale.
>Everyone knows what an eyesore litter on a stick really is.
>Skip

While I completely agree with your sentiment, I think there is little doubt that the builder signs are effective. I think our argument must be that they are often illegal and always ugly and always an eyesore.

Newbie (not)

>While I completely agree with your sentiment, I think there
>is little doubt that the builder signs are effective.

Newbie(not), what do you base your above comment on. I ask
because we have been asking the home builders here in Austin
to prove their similar statement and their have not been able
to do so.

And the irony in Austin is that the developers that use such
illegal off-premise directional signs within the city limits of
Austin are directing the potential buyers to developments
outside the Austin city limits.

Illegal Signs in Austin

Illegal Signs in Austin

>>While I completely agree with your sentiment, I think there
>>is little doubt that the builder signs are effective.
>
>Newbie(not), what do you base your above comment on. I ask
>because we have been asking the home builders here in Austin
>to prove their similar statement and their have not been
>able
>to do so.
>
I have ho hard evidence or even soft evidence. I just envision people driving around and seeing bunches of builder signs. If they saw an ad in the paper or elsewhere, the road spam will show them the way or jog their memory about a particular builder. Even if they weren't thinking of buying, the signs may get them to stop and look.

Personally, if I were planning to buy a house now, I would not be influenced by the signs and would complain if I were to stop. However, many years ago I did stop at a number of developments based on the signs.

If they are not helping the builder, that would be good to know and would probably influence a lot of builders to quit the practice. I would guess it costs them about $1 per sign per weekend in labor to have it installed and removed.

However, I would not want an eradication campaign to be dependent on the basis that they aren't cost effective.

Newbie (not)

Centex Homes has been one of the worst offenders here in Atlanta. They have signs staked MILES away from the named development but the Centex name is front and center...kind of like a Coke sign on the highway...just name recognition, no real info. Many of the area intersections have 6 or more signs for the same development lined up in a row, right next to 5 or 6 signs for another development and so on. Hard to imagine anyone with $300-600K to spend on a house needs to find their way by following illegal signs on the roadside. Of course, when they can't keep up the payments, they can just call the 'we buy houses' number on one of the other signs! Hard to imagine anyone NOT being able to find a house to buy because there were no illegal roadside signs. The illegal signs(IF they work) only offer an ILLEGAL advantage to the spammer(again, IF they work). Why should law-abiding developers be put at a theoretical DIS-advantage for following the law? Don't get me started...