POSTED: 5:51 pm CDT September 27, 2005
UPDATED: 6:27 pm CDT September 27, 2005

PLANO, Texas -- Julie Boggan wanted to make some extra money from a garage sale to help finance her daughter's vacation. Instead, she lost money on the sale after the city of Plano cited her for illegally posting signs that promoted the sale.

Boggan put out six neighborhood signs to advertise the sale. Some of the signs were set up on public property between a private residence sidewalk and the city street curb, which is illegal in Plano.

A city official cited Boggan for the illegal signs within an hour of her posting the advertisements. The fine amounted to $511, nearly twice as much as the city fines drivers who run red lights or drive without a license.

...

Read the rest here(there is also a news video):
http://www.nbc5i.com/news/5028223/detail.html

Best regards,
NoSpam

The city has and had for some time, a very strict "0" tolerance sign law. It was put in place some five years ago, when a referendum was passed in a special election to eliminate any and all signs in the ROW's.

In addition any signs have to meet certain criteria that are far beyond anything you'll see in No. Central Texas. Keep in mind, it was the citizens that voted this referendum in, not just a special interest group.

The lady was either pushing her luck or had her head stuck in the sand not to know of past issues that have come up over signs. The most recent was about two years ago, when city council made the school board stop placing the "Piger Paw" emblems in the ROW's.

It is a well publicized fact, "you spam in Plano, you pay for having it cleaned up"

GW

Oh, Gawd, the spam apologists are gonna start jumping all over this one.

I bet there's more to the story...I doubt very much that the city is going to slap a $500 fine on somebody the FIRST time they stick out a few garage-sale signs; I'd bet they get a warning the first time.

I'm not feeling sorry for this woman, because she MUST have ignored at least one warning.

Redstone

Yep, My money is on your horse.

GW

The latest news is that a bunch(??29??) of people showed up at a meeting to protest the fine. The city prosecutor offered to drop it to $100 plus court costs, and a judge dropped the fine to $10.

However, some were saying they'd go for a jury trial, thinking their "peers" would see it their way. I'd have to disagree, because ignorance of the statutes still doesn't make it legal, and I would hope that their peers would recognize that.

Evidently a bunch of them are going to appear before the Plano city council to try and get the statute changed.

Here's the URL for the story:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/9592939/

=======================
Beastie

Thanks for the update link!

Best regards,
NoSpam

If they do let her have a trial I hope she gets the same judge that offered to reduce the fine to $10. I do not remember from when I lived in Texas, but in Florida you can not have a Jury trial for a Civil infraction. No chance of Jail time no jury. I would bet if she still wanted to fight $10 the judge would give her the whole fine plus court cost and attorney fees. It is amazing how a city can vote a referendum into law. Then when a citizian breaks said law it is unfair. Maybe the City should push to go to court. Our sign referendum passed by 87%. I think your jurypool will more than likely be made up of Law abiding, and voting citizians. Not by the folks who skirt the laws and want to have perminant garage sales. (Yes I am still venting)

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

Saw coverage on Ch 5 news at 10 PM tonight. Woman got citation for $547. She rounded up 28 other people and they showed up at city hall or municipal court. Someone lowered the fine to $100 and then the judge lowered it to $10. She and some of the others are requesting jury trials. Woman claimed she didn't know and the original fine was more than typical fine for DWI. City said notice was included in recent mailing of utility bill. I wonder if it will really go to a jury trial.

Newbie (not)

It will go to a jury trial if they don't drop it. She has a constitutional right to it. Some of these people are getting a little out of hand... If someone is advertising a business or something, then sure, take down their sign. But a ridiculous fine like that for garage sale signs? I mean seriously, would they rather people just throw everything out rather than recycle it?

We all (hopefully) recycle the stakes and stuff we pull. The whole idea is to reduce garbage, not create more of it.

>Saw coverage on Ch 5 news at 10 PM tonight. Woman got
>citation for $547. She rounded up 28 other people and they
>showed up at city hall or municipal court. Someone lowered
>the fine to $100 and then the judge lowered it to $10. She
>and some of the others are requesting jury trials. Woman
>claimed she didn't know and the original fine was more than
>typical fine for DWI. City said notice was included in
>recent mailing of utility bill. I wonder if it will really
>go to a jury trial.

ACK! Refrigerator Salesman are TERRIBLE!

I'm not an attorney and don't play one on TV either.
However, my legal contacts tell me that if the lady accepted the reduced fine and it's agreed on by all parties, then it's history.

However, if she didn't accept the fine and requested a jury trial, then that's an entirely different matter.

Also, the "0" sign ordinace in Plano was put in place by referendum of a special election and city council can't simply change or over turn the ordinance to allow for garage sale signs, without another special election.

That will entail getting enough signatures of registered voters to call for a special referendum election, and that's not likely to happen in Plano

GW

Quoted from an earlier post:

"It will go to a jury trial if they don't drop it. She has a constitutional right to it. Some of these people are getting a little out of hand... If someone is advertising a business or something, then sure, take down their sign. But a ridiculous fine like that for garage sale signs? I mean seriously, would they rather people just throw everything out rather than recycle it?"

I would like to know a few more details. I work in code enforcement, and the "usual" process would have been to warn the violator first.
I run into this "Garage Sale" issue all the time. We will drive by and tell the violator that the signs are illegal and let them know they need to be removed ASAP. The part I take great issue with is the fact that here you have the entire community voted on and passed a referendum, to have "Zero" signs. I read that notice also was sent out in utility bills.(Who paid that cost?) This person feels that the fine is unreasonable. Lets ask some questions:

1. Did she read the notice that the city took time to print and send with the utility bill?

2. The story does not mention if or how many times she has been told to remove the sign before being cited. She says it is the first she has heard if the law. Did she pay as much atention to the CEO warning as she did to the one in her utility bill?

3. Was this really a garage sale? Story sounds like the violator may have been running and illegal trift store to pay for her daughters vacation.

How many garage sales is she holding a year? Maybe she could set up in a Flea Market booth.

Just some thoughts from a venting CEO

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

The city of Plano is tough -- both tough law and aggressive enforcement. They also publicize effectively so most people find out the easy way. The notice that was mailed was, I believe, an insert in the water bill so the cost would have been small. They may not give warnings so it is plausible that the wonman's story is as she claims.

In another nearby city, Addison, the police brought the garage sale sign to the owner of the house and said this is your warning and any other signs now or in the future will be issued a ticket. The owner rushed out to the other end of the block where he had a second sign and removed it.

Newbie (not)

We don’t normally copy and quote emails verbatim but this one tells the “other” side of the Plano garage sign story. This email was sent from a Plano area code enforcement officer to another code enforcement officer that forwarded it to CAUSS.

This has to be the worst case of slanted journalism that I’ve seen. Totally irresponsible on the part of NBC-TV5
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“and as Paul Harvey says now the rest of the story………..

February 2005 we have an article in the newspaper stating the rules and requirements for signs

March 2005 we send out 167 hoa letters to the addresses in our database reminding homeowners the rules for signs in r.o.w.

May 2005 we put information on the Plano Television Network as a reminder on our bulletin board ( in between programs) still there today

June 2005 we put a notice in the water bill every citizen receives for services, stating that signs not allowed in r.o.w.

July 2005 we go to council to tell them of our awareness campaign throughout the year and our plans now to issue citations for garage sale signs as well,

August 1 2005 we implement the citation plan and stepped up enforcement.

Also the permit that is printed for a garage sale states the rules for sign placement, and it is information on our website. The main response citizens complain about is the fine. $500.00 for the offense. This is the window fine. To my knowledge no citizen has paid this. If they see the judge and discuss the situation, in most cases if not all so far, the fines have been drastically reduced. However it is at the judges’s discretion and prosecutor. We can only deliver the citation, very much like a speeding ticket, the fine can be reduced in court.

But when asked the simple question of how much is the fine? We must respond $500.00 and then if possible through court a reduction can be incurred. However it is not our call to make.

GW

I didn't know Plano had a requirement to get a permit for garage sales. I went to their web site and found quite a well organized program for managing garage sales, including getting free permits online and listing all the sales. There are almost 100 garage sales this coming weekend.

The city web site says the max fine for improper garage sale signs is $2000 per occurrence.

Here are the URL's:

http://www.planocitynews.com/newsbriefs/2003/garage_sales.html

http://www.plano.gov/garagesales/GSOrdinance.aspx

Newbie (not)