Jersey City’s Quality of Life Task Force is warning the group that wants to overturn the city’s short-term rental regulations to stop posting campaign literature on public property – or face fines.

The city’s Municipal Chief Prosecutor Jake Hudnut sent a letter to Keep Our Homes on Thursday threatening $2,000 fines if the group continues to post fliers and signs on utility poles, which he says is a violation of the city’s law on advertising material.

Keep Our Homes, which is backed by Airbnb, wants the public to vote no on Municipal Question 1 on Nov. 5, which would repeal an ordinance that slaps new restrictions on the short-term rental industry in the city.

Hudnut said the city’s Department of Public Works had to remove a number of signs from utility poles last week, only to find new fliers posted on the poles over the weekend.

“Obviously, this is an election season … it happens, take the signs down, and leave them alone,” Hudnut said. “But it continued happening and it even became an issue over the weekend.”

Graeme Zielinski, a spokesperson for the Keep Our Homes campaign, said the city’s resorting to petty politics instead of focusing on lowering the property taxes it recently raised.

“While it’s disturbing to see this type of response from entrenched, deep-pocketed special interests and the politicians that support them, it is hardly surprising,” Zielinski said.

Under the advertising material ordinance, no person may post a sign upon any public property or structure without the authorization of the city’s traffic engineer. Authorization for the post shall be given only for the purpose of regulating, warning, identifying and guiding traffic.

“This is not selective enforcement. It’s not retaliatory,” Hudnut said about the warning. “If any Board of Ed or county office or assembly candidate, or even the vote yes committee, created this much work for the Department of Public Works and littered our public spaces I would take the same exact action.”

Hudnut pointed out that several people associated with Keep Our Homes, including its chairperson, Liz Debold Fusco, and its treasurer, don’t live in Jersey City. Debold Fusco is also a spokesperson for Airbnbb.

“I think it’s important we draw attention to our rules because these are outsiders, they might not even know we have the ordinances,” said Hudnut, who heads the City’s Quality of Life Task Force.

The public fight over Airbnb regulations ignited when the city passed an ordinance in June establishing an annual 60-day cap for short-term rental properties if the owner is not on site. It also prohibits Airbnb and other short-term rentals in buildings with more than four units and phases out existing short-term rental contracts by Jan. 1, 2021. The ordinance also prohibits renters from serving as short-term rental hosts.

Keep Our Homes, a group of short-term renters, submitted more than 20,000 signatures in July to challenge the ordinance and force a ballot referendum.

When Jersey City voters go to the polls Nov. 5, they will be tasked with saying “yes” or “no” to Municipal Question 1. A yes vote would keep the ordinance in place, while a no vote would repeal it.

“We are committed to empowering the community to vote no on Municipal Question 1 to reject the mayor’s home-sharing ban, while fully complying with the law and following all local ordinances," said Zielinski.

Joshua Rosario can be reached at JRosario@jjournal.com. Follow him on Twitter @JRyRosario.