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Tuesday, March 28, 2006
‘Truckload Bunch’ winning war against illegal signage
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
They call themselves the “Truckload Bunch.”
Their mission is noble, and in Gwinnett County, some might say a necessity. This informal volunteer corps spends weekends and evenings collecting signs that are posted illegally in the public rights of way.
They stay busy. But the volume of signs they remove is nowhere near what it used to be.
Paul Allen of Norcross started snatching up signs four years ago. He’d travel between Pleasant Hill and Indian Hill roads removing signs hawking everything from real estate to foreclosure assistance.
“When I first started, I usually would have to go unload my car and start all over again,” he said. “I’d easily get 100 each weekend. “Now, I’m lucky if I get a half-dozen.”
No one knows the exact number of sign snatchers. Their network stretches far, wide and deep. Hundreds of signs are being removed and thrown in Dumpsters across the county.
The volunteers have a Web site (www.truckloadbunch.org.) that lists sign laws for the county and some municipalities. Sign grabbers can post comments and ask questions. Illegal signs are photographed and posted as the “hemorrhoid of the month.” Repeat offenders make the site’s “hall of shame.”
And when shame doesn’t work, the court system steps in.
Three years ago, an insurance company that was a frequent offender was prosecuted in Recorder’s Court.
Judge Patti Muise fined one insurance agent $1,000 and another $2,000, a ratethat equates to a grand per sign.
Most times, though, a courtesy call can stop the practice. Businesses are contacted by phone or e-mail and told they are breaking the law. Sometimes the violators are cordial. Sometimes they get nasty.
“I just tell them that I saw their signs this weekend, and that I was so impressed I collected them,” Allen said, jokingly. “You get a range of ‘I’ll kick your butt,’ to ‘Gee, I didn’t know it was legal.’
“Others want to tell you the signs are protected under free speech, but commercial speech is not protected by the U.S. Constitution.”
Even before he became a county commissioner, Bert Nasuti picked up signs in Norcross. He learned that Allen, who also works to combat graffiti, did the same thing. Nasuti let Allen and his colleagues use a Dumpster in the back of his law firm.
“I think they had it filled almost every Sunday,” said Nasuti, who has returned to removing signs after having hip replacement surgery last year. He considers the work of the Truckload Bunch vital. To see what the community would look like without it, he suggests I take a ride up Peachtree Industrial Boulevard to McGinnis Ferry Road.
“When you cross the river into Forsyth County, there’s an immediate flood of illegal signs,” he said. “It’s outright visual blight. The folks putting up the signs in Forsyth are many of the same ones that used to put them up in Gwinnett. “They now know they can’t get away with it in Gwinnett.”
You can help keep your little corner of the county clean. The law allows citizens to remove and destroy illegal signs. It’s considered roadside trash. Allen and his colleagues aren’t trying to hurt businesses. There are simply other ways to advertise.
Posting signs may be cheap. But it really is like throwing money in the trash particularly if the Truckload Bunch gets hold of them.
Because that’s exactly where they’ll end up.
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