Alan L. Baldwin and George Q. Cannon, Jr. v. Redwood City, Alan L. Baldwin and George Q. Cannon, Jr. v. Redwood City

Alan L. Baldwin and George Q. Cannon, Jr., property owners, residents, and registered voters of Redwood City, brought this action for injunctive and declaratory relief challenging certain Redwood City ordinances governing the display of temporary signs, including political campaign signs, as violative of the First Amendment. Baldwin and Cannon filed their complaint less than a month before the April 9, 1974, general election in Redwood City. They stated that Redwood City’s temporary sign regulations had prevented them from erecting signs on behalf of a candidate for Redwood City Council, subsequently defeated in the April 1974 election.

Redwood City has adopted a detailed code governing the erection, location, and maintenance of all types of signs within the city. The challenged provisions are found in a division of this code dealing with “temporary signs,” which is reproduced in full in the margin. It constitutes a succinct but comprehensive regulatory scheme controlling the use of temporary signs.

Temporary signs are exempt from provisions of the general sign ordinance imposing design and structural controls upon signs (section 3.133). Temporary signs may be used-only…