Wednesday, April 1, 2009
The two signs in the yard of Jaclyn Frankenberg, Leawood senior, suggest that she and her roommates support Price Banks and Lance Johnson for the April 7 city commission election. But Frankenberg doesn’t know who those people are, or where the signs came from.
“I think I would only take them down if it was something I didn’t believe in,” Frankenberg said. “People wonder about them but never ask.”
Frankenberg said she assumed that her landlord posted the signs and that she didn’t know when they would come down. According to city code, tenants need permission in their leases to post or take down signs in support of city candidates, but landlords can post such advertisements without permission or notifying the tenants.
“I’m surprised the city would be involved. How could city enforce it?” state Sen. Marci Francisco said. “They can’t unless they look at people’s leases.”
Jaclyn Frankenberg, Leawood, senior, said she doesn't mind that her landlord put up election signs in the yard of the property that she rents. According to the city code, renters have to have their landlord's permission to put up signs, but the landlords do not need the permission of the renters.
Francisco, who owns rental properties in Lawrence, said both the property owner and the person living in the house had a right to put political signs up. Landlords and tenants should talk about what is and isn’t allowed, Francisco said, and she told her tenants it was OK to post signs. Francisco said the rental’s lease should clarify the specific rights and responsibilities of the tenant and landlord if the topic wasn’t discussed.
“I think a reasonable thing to say is it’s good to talk about this ahead of time,” Francisco said. “I would encourage people to put up signs and then communicate with their landlords and let them know that that’s what they’ve done.”
Erica Lathrop, Blair, Neb., senior, said she and her roommates were leaving their house about a month ago when they noticed a stranger posting a sign in their yard. The person asked the property owner’s name and claimed he had permission to post the sign.
“Sometimes I wonder what we’re supporting,” Lathrop said. “I think the only thing that bothered us is whenever we see someone we don’t know in a yard, you kind of wonder.”
Brian Jimenez, Lawrence code enforcement manager, said he didn’t know how the code was enforced and guessed it was passed to try to avoid conflict between tenants and landlords. Robert Baker, Housing and Credit Counseling Services director of education, said he hadn’t heard of the ordinance either but guessed the code was passed before 1970, when students were more active in local politics.
“It has to be a reaction to something that was a dividing line between students and landlords,” Baker said. “Now, if tenants were going to get involved in local political action, they would probably support candidates against traditional business practices.”
Lathrop said she would take down the signs in her yard before her graduation party, regardless of city codes. Frankenberg said she didn’t know what to do with the signs and hoped they didn’t support anything she was against.
— — Edited by Grant Treaster
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