The eight Scottsdale City Council candidates \u2013 jockeying for three seats in the July 21 primary \u2013 are campaigning nonstop.<\/p>\n
Literally.<\/p>\n
Their faces, boasts and promises about what a great job they will do for you blanket the city, with campaign signs taking over scores of Scottsdale intersections.<\/p>\n
\u201cPolitical padhandling,\u201d some call this.<\/p>\n
In a Facebook comment to a Progress post, Rob Ert had a modest proposal:<\/p>\n
\u201cWe should outlaw these stupid signs \u2026 all of them.\u201d<\/p>\n
Though hardly as sweeping as that, Scottsdale tried to manage the sign scene\u2013 it really did.<\/p>\n
But a move two decades ago to limit political signs around the city was overpowered by state law.<\/p>\n
As the city\u2019s website notes, \u201cOn March 30, 2007, to address sign proliferation and to preserve the aesthetics of Scottsdale\u2019s streetscapes, the City Council adopted Resolution No. 7181 which prohibited all signs in the public right-of-way.\u201d<\/p>\n
Aesthetes breathed sighs of relief \u2013 until four years later, when state legislators passed House Bill 2500, which became Arizona Revised Statutes 16-1019.<\/p>\n
This restricted Arizona municipalities from enforcing local temporary sign laws \u201cas it relates to political signs during election season.\u201d<\/p>\n
In the political pyramid, the state tops the city.<\/p>\n
The state law spells out an \u201callowable time period\u201d:\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cPolitical signs supporting\/opposing candidates are allowed beginning 71 days before the election and ending 15 days after the election.\u201d<\/p>\n
Those who get knocked out in the primary have just over two weeks to haul away their signs.<\/p>\n
For primary candidates who advance to the general election, the period ends 15 days after the general election.<\/p>\n
According to state law, \u201cNotwithstanding any other statute, ordinance, or regulation, a city, town, or county of this state shall not remove, alter, deface, or cover any political sign if the following conditions are met:<\/p>\n
\u201cThe sign is placed in a public right-of-way that is owned or controlled by that jurisdiction.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe sign supports or opposes a candidate for public office or it supports or opposes a ballot measure.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe sign is not placed in a location that is hazardous to public safety, obstructs clear vision in the area or interferes with the requirements of the Americans with disabilities act (42 United States Code sections 12101 through 12213 and 47 United States Code sections 225 and 611).<\/p>\n
\u201cThe sign has a maximum area of 16 square feet if the sign is located in an area zoned for residential use, or a maximum area of 32 square feet if the sign is located in any other area.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe sign contains the name and telephone number, or website address of the candidate or campaign committee contact person.\u201d<\/p>\n
Sign-free zones<\/strong><\/p>\n Just the same, have you noticed some stretches of Scottsdale streets blissfully free of vote begging?<\/p>\n Fifteen years ago, the City Council utilized a loophole in the state signs law by adopting Resolution No. 8853.<\/p>\n This established two \u201cSign-Free Zones\u201d \u2013 where, as the city notes, \u201cthe state law’s limitations on local enforcement for campaign, political, and ballot signs do not apply.\u201d<\/p>\n One includes most of Old Town. This area frees Scottsdale Road of signs from Earl Drive north through Doubletree Ranch Road \u2013 except for Paradise Valley\u2019s narrow stretch of Scottsdale Road.<\/p>\n Scottsdale\u2019s second sign-free zone is in North Scottsdale, from a long stretch of Frank Lloyd Wright Boulevard to East Bell Road, with Paradise Valley on the west and Thompson Peak Parkway on the east as rough borders.<\/p>\n Where to vote<\/strong><\/p>\n Ballots shipped out by Maricopa County started hitting Scottsdale mailboxes last week.<\/p>\n According to the county, July 14 is the \u201clast day to mail back your ballot.\u201d<\/p>\n You can drop off your voted mail ballot at the following locations starting Wednesday, June 24, through Monday, July 20:<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Scottsdale City Hall, 3939 N. Drinkwater Boulevard. Hours: Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.<\/p>\n Maricopa County Tabulation and Election Center, 510 S. 3rd Ave. Phoenix. Hours: 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.<\/p>\n Maricopa County Recorder\/Elections, 222 E. Javelina Ave., Mesa. Hours: 24 hours a day, 7 days a week starting Wednesday, June 24.<\/p>\n All voting locations will be open on Election Day, Tuesday, July 21, from 6 a.m. until 7 p.m.\u00a0<\/p>\n SUSD board<\/strong><\/p>\n Scottsdale Unified School District will have two governing board seats on the ballot \u2013 but not until the Nov. 3 general election.<\/p>\n According to Maricopa County, candidate statements of interest and petitions \u2013 with required signatures of support \u2013 are due at 5 p.m. July 6.<\/p>\n SUSD board member Amy Carney has filed a statement of interest for reelection. Carine Werner, the other current SUSD board member with a term expiring this year, has not filed for reelection.\u00a0<\/p>\n Werner is running for reelection as senator of Legislative District 4.<\/p>\n Like Carney, Jeanne Beasley and Jennifer Johnson have filed statements of interest for the SUSD board positions.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The eight Scottsdale City Council candidates \u2013 jockeying for three seats in the July 21 primary \u2013 are…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":907054,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[5131],"tags":[5229,165352,5643,1587,367090,92783,43184,1589,46683,25535,67,586,132,5230,68,2969],"class_list":["post-907053","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-phoenix","tag-america","tag-amy-carney","tag-arizona","tag-az","tag-candidate-for-public-office","tag-carine-werner","tag-old-town","tag-phoenix","tag-scottsdale-city-council","tag-scottsdale-unified-school-district","tag-united-states","tag-united-states-of-america","tag-unitedstates","tag-unitedstatesofamerica","tag-us","tag-usa"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/116849340958756217","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/907053","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=907053"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/907053\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/907054"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=907053"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=907053"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=907053"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}