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The first time Ventura City Councilmember Mike Johnson ran for office in 2020 he created two different free-standing campaign signs of the kind Ventura residents are used to seeing all over town, he said. One sign read Mike Johnson for Ventura City Council while the other stated Lets ban these signs from the public right-of-way.

Johnsons campaign against campaign signs on public property appears to be headed towards victory after the Ventura City Council voted unanimously to move ahead with the policy proposal at their Oct. 9 meeting. City ordinance currently forbids other types of signs, such as commercial advertisements, from public right-of-way areas, and the change would eliminate an exemption for political signs prior to elections.

By removing the exemption, what we are doing is simply putting the signs so that they are treated the same as all other signs, Johnson said as he presented his proposal to the council. Its important for free speech reasons that we not subject them to any additional burdens, but this would simply make one uniform sign ordinance that prohibits signs in the public right-of-way.

Johnson said he became concerned about Venturas political sign policy long before he ran for city council. About seven years ago he started picking up signs from various campaigns that were left in place after elections in violation of the citys campaign rules, which say signs must be removed within 10 days after the polls close. He said the signs can become a visual blight in the policy proposal he introduced along with Deputy Mayor Jeannette Sanchez-Palacios. Johnson also cited a 2018 Ventura County Grand Jury report that found of the five largest cities in Ventura County, Ventura was the only one that allowed campaign signs in the public right-of-way.

Johnson pointed out that the change would only apply to areas such as city-owned tree wells, sidewalks and parkways and not privately owned homes and businesses. This would not have any impact on what you could do on your own property, your own house, your own business. And personally, I would say that I think those signs are very meaningful when you know who is standing behind it, Johnson said.

During the public comment portion of the discussion, Spencer Noren, who recently was unsuccessful in his run for city council, said he was against the policy change. Do we want to open up Pandoras box on our First Amendment rights about free speech for candidates and campaigns fighting to be . . . elected officials? I mean, would everybody here please raise your hand whos on council, who used campaign signs. I think you all did, right? So wouldnt it be a little bit hypocritical to say that people in the future dont have the same opportunity to advertise in the public right-of-way signs that our small beach community can see? Noren said.

When Councilmember Bill McReynolds asked City Attorney Andy Heglund if the change would open the city up to any First Amendment challenges, Heglund replied that the current ordinance has issues of its own.

I think the problem our existing ordinance has is, its not necessarily content neutral. It does restrict certain signs and allow other signs based on content. I think this change would make our ordinance more consistent with the First Amendment, Heglund said.

The policy change that would effectively ban campaign signs from Ventura right-of-way will require approval by the Ventura Planning Commission as well as a final vote by the city council. It will also need approval by the California Coastal Commission, and city officials said its unclear if the item will be heard by the state panel before next June in order to be in place to impact the next city council election scheduled for November 2024.

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Signs of the times? Ventura considers banning campaign signs on ... - Ventura County Reporter