Sussli

Appellant Eugene Sussli was a candidate for the San Mateo City Council in an election held on March 8, 1977. Prior to the election, campaign signs supporting the candidacy of appellant and the reelection of another candidate, John Condon, were posted on public property within the city. On February 8, 1977, the city attorney sent a letter to all candidates, including Sussli, informing them that sign posting on public property was prohibited by local ordinance section 25.04.090, reproduced verbatim in the margin, 1 and requesting that all such campaign signs be removed no later than the following week under threat of summary removal by city officials. The letter also advised that under applicable ordinance provisions, sign posting on private property was permissible with the consent of the owner of the property. A copy of the ordinance regulating the time, manner and placement of an “election sign” was included with the written notification.

*4 When the candidates refused to comply with the written request, city personnel undertook removal of the offending signs, resulting in the institution of suit for injunctive and declaratory relief. At the conclusion of the hearing…

I respectfully dissent:

Under the broad prohibition imposed by the ordinance, sign posting of any nature on public property “except as may be required or permitted by ordinance or law” (§ 25.04.090) 1 is wholly forbidden. The sweeping provisions would extend to posters and signs of any nature, whether temporary or otherwise, placed upon any public property including streets, sidewalks and parks. Such overinclusive language would condemn even the use of privately mounted temporary political placards or notices inoffensively placed upon a public sidewalk either with the consent of or by the occupier of abutting business premises. Certainly such time-honored means of political expression should be afforded the same level of reasonable access as extended to the dissemination of other protected materials. (Cf., e.g., Remer v. City of El Cajon (1975) 52 Cal.App.3d 441 [ 125 Cal.Rptr. 116 ]; California Newspaper Publishers Assn., Inc. v. City of Burbank (1975) 51 Cal.App.3d 50 [ 123 Cal.Rptr. 880 ] [newsracks].) The city’s attempt to rely on other decisions concerning billboard restrictions (see e.g., John Donnelly & Sons v. Mallar, (D.Me. 1978) 453 F.Supp. 1272 ; Suffolk Outdoor…