Last Saturday (May 12), there was a lively debate among the competing candidates for Kings Point mayor and board of trustees at the 130 Steamboat Road Mashadi Synagogue.
Property taxes, security, and other issues of concern were the major issues discussed.
I had a chance to bring up a little issue, involving First Amendment free speech rights. Section 161-34.1(I) of the Kings Point Village Code subjects Kings Point homeowners to onerous sign restrictions and a time-wasting sign permit application process in order to place political lawn signs (known as “free speech signs”) on their own property.
A Kings Point homeowner currently needs to fill out and sign a free-speech sign permit application form, bring the application to the Village Hall, and wait to obtain approval from the Kings Point building inspector, all of which can theoretically take up to two weeks, just to put up a lawn sign that says “Vote for Vito” (or Vittoria, or whomever).
In addition, under the Kings Point Village Code, free speech lawn signs currently need to be set back so far from the road (15 or 30 feet back from the edge of the property) that in most cases, no one can see or read what the signs say. The setback requirement often means that the signs will be behind people’s trees or houses!
The Kings Point police spend time removing lawn signs that either don’t have permits, or, even if they do have permits, are located where the signs are actually visible to passersby.
In addition, restrictions on the number of signs one can place on one’s lawn in Kings Point (just three!) are unfair to homeowners with large properties and particularly problematic when there are multi-candidate elections.
In my experience, the folks at the Village Hall (Village Clerk Gomie Persaud and the building inspector) are very nice about expediting the sign permit process so that approval of a sign permit usually only takes two or three days. The Kings Point police are also nice about trying to return to candidates signs that the police have removed from people’s lawns. (Too bad the sign stealers throughout our local area are not as nice! The last time I ran for office, 400 out of 500 of my lawn signs were stolen, never to be seen by voters’ eyes again.)
However, although their kindness is appreciated, I’m sure that Ms. Persaud, the building inspector, and the Kings Point Police all have much better things to do with their time than to process sign permits and pluck signs from people’s lawns!
The other villages in Great Neck apparently do not have these time-wasting bureaucratic processes and restrictions.
Visible political signs play an important role in guaranteeing our First Amendment, property and voting rights. Signs can help us become educated voters, and direct us to Web sites where we can learn more about the candidates and issues.
Also, many people only realize that there is an upcoming election and remember to vote because they see the lawn signs!
Making sure that people know about elections is especially important this year, when there will be so many (at least four) elections occurring during the next few months.
On Tuesday June 19, the hotly contested Kings Point mayoral and trustee election will take place.
On Tuesday June 26, the also very hotly contested three-way Republican U.S. Senate primary will occur.
On Thursday Sept. 13, any primaries for New York state offices will occur. (The date was moved from Tuesday Sept. 11 to avoid interfering with 9-11 remembrances.
Interestingly, back in 2001, the primary started to take place on 9-11, and was suspended when the WTC attacks occurred. Many people who left for work late so that they could vote in the primary that morning ended up being spared from the tragedy.)
And, on Election Day, Tuesday, Nov. 6, we’ll finally have the chance to vote President Obama out of office (and to vote for candidates for U.S. Senate, congressional, state and other offices).
Signs (which cost a few dollars per piece) can also help “level the financial playing field,” since other methods of reaching voters, such as media advertising and massive mailers, are so expensive that they are beyond the reach of many worthy candidates.
Happily, during my discussions after the May 12 debate with both sides (the incumbent Kings Point mayor and trustees, and the dedicated challengers for these positions), everyone on both sides of the contested Kings Point election was responsive on this issue and seemed willing to ease Kings Point’s sign restrictions and permit requirements.
The mayor and trustees invited me to present a proposal to change the village code sign restrictions, which I am doing.
My proposal (which I am forwarding in a little more detail to the mayor and trustees) is basically as follows: Commencing sixty days before an election, homeowners can place free speech signs anywhere on their property without the need for a sign permit, so long as the free speech signs do not contain flashing or strobe lights, are not larger than the larger of four square feet or the size permitted by applicable zoning restrictions, and do not block sidewalks or encroach on a neighbor’s property. I hope that such changes will be enacted soon.
Looking forward to an interesting election season!
Elizabeth Berney, Esq.
Great Neck
