Street Spam Squad Declares War On Signs

By ANTHONY McCARTNEY The Tampa Tribune

Published: Oct 31, 2007

BRANDON - They're the roadside equivalent of junk mail - tiny signs that advertise everything imaginable: cheap houses, health insurance, eligible singles, telemarketing jobs and even salvation.

The illegal signs annoy residents, mangle lawn mowers and stymie county workers who pulled them out of the ground by the tens of thousands last year.

It's an ongoing battle, one some residents are more than willing to join.

Over the weekend, Citizens Against Ugly Street Spam slapped stickers that read "illegally posted" or "litter" on signs throughout Brandon, covering the phone numbers or Web addresses.

The group, founded in Texas in 1997, wages its guerrilla war under the cloak of anonymity. The sign-spammers work under cover of night and many shield their identities, the group says on its Web site, so why shouldn't group members?

No one responded to an e-mail sent to the group this week, and previous attempts by Tribune reporters to contact local members have failed.

Most residents opt for a different approach, simply removing the signs and throwing them in the trash.

That's what David Steck, a trustee with the Bloomingdale Special Taxing District, prefers to do. He picks up signs weekly near the intersections of Bloomingdale Avenue and Bell Shoals Road.

He's not affiliated with CAUSS, but said, "I like those other efforts."

County officials don't endorse either method.

"People get very irate about their signs," said Dexter Barge, director of the county's Code Enforcement Department.

He recalled an incident a few years ago in which a code enforcement officer was confronted by a gun-toting man who accused the worker of stealing his signs. "Our guys are uniformed," Barge said. "That's what we get paid to do."

57,000 Signs Pulled Up

Officers have been busy, pulling up 57,000 signs in the fiscal year that ended Sept. 30. That's a 64 percent increase from two years ago, when a smaller corps of officers collected 34,700 illegal signs.

The signs are illegal, even if they're posted on private property.

Other Florida communities have toyed with enlisting residents to pull the signs. Palm Beach County last year proposed offering a 50-cent bounty for each sign residents brought in. The idea was abandoned because of legal concerns, said Terry Verner, code enforcement director for Palm Beach County.

To detractors, the signs - much like e-mail from Nigeria and pre-approved credit card offers - have no redeeming qualities.

The slender metal legs of "snipe signs" mangle lawn mower blades, and Barge said signs can become missiles and fly into roadways.

To CAUSS, the people who distribute signs aren't any better, which is why they prefer anonymity. "We are concerned citizens, dealing with non-caring people that use voice mail phone numbers on their signs in order to hide their identities. We don't know who they are, and we prefer they don't know who we are," according to the group's Web site.

But just like annoying e-mail, the signs seem to be effective enough to encourage their continued use.

Al McCray, owner of FSB Capital, said they've been the most effective marketing tool he's had in the 15 years he's been in business.

About half his customers call because they've seen his signs, which advertise help in staving off foreclosure. They work better than newspaper, radio or ads placed in restaurants - all methods he's tried over the years.

McCray, who recently finished a stint as aTampa Tribunecommunity columnist, said he tries to be responsible about his signs. He pays extra for wooden stakes and tries to keep them off public right of way. If someone calls to complain, he moves the sign, he says.

The county removes lots of his signs, which he acknowledges probably shouldn't be anywhere. At $7 per sign, the cost of signs ending up in garbage bins begin to add up.

Prosecution Nearly Impossible

Although illegal, it's nearly impossible to prosecute someone for planting the signs, Barge said.

To cite someone, an officer has to witness the sign being placed, and that work often takes place during hours when code enforcement officers aren't working.

The current regulations, Barge said, are a Catch-22.

Once a sign is removed, the owner can't be prosecuted.

"The easiest thing to do is to mitigate the hazard," he said.

Barge said that county attorneys are looking into whether they can create a ticketing process that creates a fine for placing the roadside signs.

But those discussions are in their early stages, he said. The best thing people can do to combat the signs is to call code enforcement at (813) 274-6600.

"If we get a complaint, we'll sweep that area," Barge said.

Reporter Anthony McCartney can be reached at (813) 259-7616 or

amccartney@tampatrib.com.