Photo by spectremanSidewalk signs and sandwich boards like the one pictured above are technically illegal in the District, but hundreds of local businesses have long ignored the law. Take a stroll along M Street in Georgetown, 18th Street in Adams Morgan, or U Street between 15th and 16th and you’re likely to find dozens of signs enticing customers with specials and sales dotting the sidewalk along the way. They do it because sidewalk signs are effective, and because the city has rarely bothered to enforce the law. But it looks like that’s about to change.
The District Department of Transportation announced today that it will implement a new sidewalk sign sting beginning at the end of this month. Starting March 23, a 7-day warning and public education period on the illegality of sidewalk signs will begin. DDOT will then begin issuing citations starting April 1, which come with a fine of $150 for the first violation, and $300 for each subsequent violation.
“The goal of this initiative is to ensure safe pedestrian walkways and compliance,” Acting DDOT Director Gabe Klein said in a statement.
Many local business operators we talked to today had yet to hear about DDOT’s plans, and some weren’t too pleased with the news.
“The signs are important, because some people don’t know we’re here, and they see the sign,” said Love Cafe manager Nelys Coronado. The U Street coffee and cupcake shop has long placed a sandwich board outside its door to advertise its lunch specials and wireless internet.
Across the street at Parlour, a relatively new hair salon on U Street which also has a sandwich board on the sidewalk, receptionist Roberto Crudup said he’s talked to customers who have come in off the street to try the salon just because they noticed their sign.
“Obviously, we don’t think it’s fair,” Crudup said of DDOT’s plans to fine businesses for their sidewalk signs. “But we’ll deal with it.”
