Local Business Petitions for Revamped Flyer Policy

The Daily Tar Heel
April 15, 2002
By Jenny Huang

A local business owner has petitioned the Chapel Hill Town Council to change an ordinance that prohibits signs from being fastened to utility poles, claiming the regulation has direct implications for free speech.
Erik Ose, who owns Lost City Music and Video, located on 402 Rosemary St., says small business owners and community organizations should be allowed to post flyers on telephone poles for grass-roots advertising purposes.

But according to section 16-3 of the town code, "no signs or notices for advertising purposes shall be fastened or tacked to telephone, telegraph or electric light poles or trees on the streets or sidewalks."

Last week Ose petitioned the Town Council to revise or repeal the ordinance so signs can be posted on poles.

During the meeting, Ose told the council that two Chapel Hill police officers issued him a citation for stapling a poster on a pole in front of the Franklin Street post office and refusing to tear the poster down.

Ose said that although the police officers were courteous, he was disturbed when the officers said they were surprised that Ose would bother being cited and having to go to court when he could have taken the posters down, apologized and put up more posters on the next corner.

"But you know, who's fooling who here?" Ose said Monday night. "Why should a citizen have to play cat-and-mouse games with the police when they're simply trying to publicize a worthy cause or advertise their business or speak out about an issue they care about?"

Chapel Hill Planning Director Roger Waldon said he was surprised to hear Ose's comments on Monday night because he usually hears complaints about people posting signs on poles.

"Usually, the comments we get are the opposite," Waldon said. "The main way in which this issue has come before is periodically there is concern about the appearance of downtown (Chapel Hill)."

Waldon said local merchants have always been concerned that scraps of flyers on telephone poles would degrade the appearance of the downtown area.

But Ose said he thinks aesthetic issues should not be sacrificed for the freedom of expression in the community.

"To me, a pole (with flyers) represents what this town is all about," he said during an interview Tuesday night. "What is more aesthetically appealing -- a picture of a pole with (flyers of) diverse ideas on it or no flyers at all?"

But Curtis Brooks, public works landscape architect, said downtown kiosks were established to create space for businesses and community organizations to advertise.

"The reason we like kiosks instead of poles is because it centralizes notices, so when we do our weekly clean up, it centralizes things," he said.

Brooks said employees of the public works landscape division clean up downtown litter -- including flyers on telephone poles -- on a daily basis and clear off kiosks on a weekly basis.

"Our concerns are just practical," Brooks said. "We prefer the posting of bills in centralized locations."

But Ose said the freedom of speech is restricted with the kiosks, especially since the number of available kiosks has decreased from five to two because of downtown construction.

"If you're restricting free speech to only two areas in town -- is that really free speech?" he said.

Darren Hunicutt, co-coordinator of Internationalist Books on 405 W. Franklin St., said grass-roots advertising is an important medium because small business owners and local community organizations don't have large advertising budgets.

"For small business owners and non-profit organizations, I think (grass-roots advertising) is an exceptional resource," Hunicutt said. "With the amount of foot traffic that goes around, I really think it's effective."

Ose said he has accumulated about 300 signatures on several petitions and plans to present the signatures to the Town Council during its regular business meeting tonight.

But Brooks warns that it is not up to the residents or town staff to make the final decision.

"It's not up to us to value or pass judgment on a policy," Brooks said.

"(Whether or not we can post flyers on poles) is ultimately a policy decision decided by the council."

The City Editor can be reached at citydesk@unc.edu.