They litter roadsides all over town: signs advertising cash for junk cars, cheap computer fixes, credit repair or a $99 divorce.
Code-enforcement officers pick up tens of thousands of the illegal signs every year, but they quickly sprout again, often within hours. Now Orange County and Orlando officials are trying a different approach: They're going to be a bigger nuisance than the sign scofflaws.
Local officials are launching a "robocall" system that will repeatedly dial the phone numbers on the signs with a recorded message until the signs are removed and the culprits pay a fine. The incessant calls are designed to tie up violators' phone lines until they knuckle under.
"I personally get more complaints about these signs than anything else — they are just an awful scourge," said county Code Enforcement Director Bob Spivey. "We pulled up 92,000 signs last year."
The so-called "snipe signs" are a relatively cheap form of advertising common at busy intersections and in commercial areas without homeowners to complain. They're stuck in the turf, nailed to telephone poles, wired to stop signs and glued to traffic-control boxes.
Local governments devote significant manpower to cleaning up the signs, which violate sign ordinances. And code officers fine the violators if they catch them. A first-time violation carries a $150 penalty.
But some can be tough to catch. They often use cheap and anonymous pay-as-you-go mobile phones. Violators sometimes claim to have no knowledge of the signs.
"Running a lot of these folks down is not always easy," Orlando Code Enforcement Director Mike Rhodes said. "A lot of them are not typical businesses, they're fly-by-night or middlemen for other people."
Code officers aren't the only ones picking up the signs. Some residents collect them, too.
The signs bother Orlando business owner Ward Davis so much that he gathers up dozens every week.
"They're litter. They're ugly, and they shouldn't be there," Davis said.
They've long been a pet peeve of Orlando Commissioner Daisy Lynum, who picks them up while on her morning walks. When Lynum heard that a few South Florida communities recently began using automated robocalls to pester sign violators, she pushed to bring the tactic here.
"This is a situation that's not going to go away unless we do something really dramatic," Lynum said. "You make that call every hour on the hour to all those numbers, you're going to tie them up. We will become a nuisance to them, just as they are a nuisance to the community."
Orange County just launched its call system, and Orlando officials expect to start within the next week.
The recorded messages say the signs violate code, and the violator must report to code-enforcement offices and pay a fine to make the calls stop.
The two governments are able to add the feature to their existing phone systems at relatively little expense. It will cost Orlando 6 cents for every minute of call time.
Officials say it's too soon to know whether violators will pay the fines. But they hope the calls will serve as a deterrent.
Officials in Hollywood, Fla., saw a dramatic decline in the number of signs, so much that several other cities have followed suit in recent months.
mschlueb@tribune.com, 407-420-5417 or Twitter @MarkSchlueb
Code-enforcement officers pick up tens of thousands of the illegal signs every year, but they quickly sprout again, often within hours. Now Orange County and Orlando officials are trying a different approach: They're going to be a bigger nuisance than the sign scofflaws.
Local officials are launching a "robocall" system that will repeatedly dial the phone numbers on the signs with a recorded message until the signs are removed and the culprits pay a fine. The incessant calls are designed to tie up violators' phone lines until they knuckle under.
"I personally get more complaints about these signs than anything else — they are just an awful scourge," said county Code Enforcement Director Bob Spivey. "We pulled up 92,000 signs last year."
The so-called "snipe signs" are a relatively cheap form of advertising common at busy intersections and in commercial areas without homeowners to complain. They're stuck in the turf, nailed to telephone poles, wired to stop signs and glued to traffic-control boxes.
Local governments devote significant manpower to cleaning up the signs, which violate sign ordinances. And code officers fine the violators if they catch them. A first-time violation carries a $150 penalty.
But some can be tough to catch. They often use cheap and anonymous pay-as-you-go mobile phones. Violators sometimes claim to have no knowledge of the signs.
"Running a lot of these folks down is not always easy," Orlando Code Enforcement Director Mike Rhodes said. "A lot of them are not typical businesses, they're fly-by-night or middlemen for other people."
Code officers aren't the only ones picking up the signs. Some residents collect them, too.
The signs bother Orlando business owner Ward Davis so much that he gathers up dozens every week.
"They're litter. They're ugly, and they shouldn't be there," Davis said.
They've long been a pet peeve of Orlando Commissioner Daisy Lynum, who picks them up while on her morning walks. When Lynum heard that a few South Florida communities recently began using automated robocalls to pester sign violators, she pushed to bring the tactic here.
"This is a situation that's not going to go away unless we do something really dramatic," Lynum said. "You make that call every hour on the hour to all those numbers, you're going to tie them up. We will become a nuisance to them, just as they are a nuisance to the community."
Orange County just launched its call system, and Orlando officials expect to start within the next week.
The recorded messages say the signs violate code, and the violator must report to code-enforcement offices and pay a fine to make the calls stop.
The two governments are able to add the feature to their existing phone systems at relatively little expense. It will cost Orlando 6 cents for every minute of call time.
Officials say it's too soon to know whether violators will pay the fines. But they hope the calls will serve as a deterrent.
Officials in Hollywood, Fla., saw a dramatic decline in the number of signs, so much that several other cities have followed suit in recent months.
mschlueb@tribune.com, 407-420-5417 or Twitter @MarkSchlueb
