Take down the signs!

Guerilla marketing — companies spending as little money as possible to promote themselves and their products in unconventional ways — has become increasingly popular. Some merchants post stickers and signs on public property, but a newly strengthened Town of Hempstead law — unanimously amended by the board on May 22 and nicknamed “Sign of the Times” by Supervisor Kate Murray -- aims to prohibit this misuse of town-owned property for private-business advertising.

Hempstead Turnpike was once littered with flashy posters, but now companies that continue to post advertising where it doesn’t belong will be fined, Murray and Town Councilman Gary Hudes announced on May 30.

“There has been an evolving trend, mostly on the part of some businesses, whereby advertising signs have been plastered on telephone poles, fences and other structures along the roadside,” said Murray. “These signs are an assault on our area’s suburban character, creating an eyesore, impairing visibility, distracting drivers and blighting neighborhoods.”

The purpose of the new law -- which does not address political advertising -- is to discourage companies from posting signs on public property. The town is now authorized to remove the advertisements of violators and fine them $250 per sign.

According to Hudes, the public safety and highway departments will be responsible for removing the scofflaw signs. In Levittown recently, he added, 35 signs put up by a single company were removed in one day.

“This is nothing more than commercial graffiti,” Hudes said. “You wake up in the morning and drive down the street, and every telephone pole has a sign.” Business owners who engaged in this kind of marketing were rarely penalized in the past, he said, because they had to be caught in the act of posting a sign. Now they are automatically considered responsible for the posting.