The Sign Ninjas are an unofficial group of Columbus-area residents who are sick and tired of seeing politicians' signs planted in the public right of way along city streets and highways. In 2012, they began removing signs from inappropriate places. This year, with the election two weeks away, campaign signs are sprouting again where they don't belong, and the ninjas are back taking them down.

The Sign Ninjas are back.

The ninjas, an unofficial group of Columbus-area residents, got sick and tired of seeing politicians� signs planted in the public right of way along city streets and highways. In 2012, they began removing signs from inappropriate places.

This year, with the election two weeks away, campaign signs are sprouting again where they don�t belong, and the ninjas are back taking them down.

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Under state law (Ohio Revised Code 5516.06) and Columbus city code (3375.18), signs cannot be placed in the public right of way. That includes public property as well along city streets and freeways. The rules are frequently flouted around election time, with signs popping up at busy intersections and freeway exit ramps.

Columbus restaurateur Elizabeth Lessner is cheering on the ninjas, in part because some of her restaurants are in areas of town where political signs � she calls them litter � are a problem around election time.

She says many neighborhoods are victims of �predatory signage. ... The campaigns just blanket some neighborhoods. It really got on my nerves.�

Lessner contacts the campaigns of candidates whose signs have been removed and tells them where they can retrieve them. The signs are usually two-sided plastic covers that slip over metal frames.

The Columbus Sign Ninjas boast 275 members and have a Facebook page, where members report new signs and some candidates have apologized for where their signs have been placed.

Karen Thomas, who lives in the Brewery District, said she got tired of seeing signs. While driving to Easton from Downtown a few years ago, she stopped her car, popped out, removed several signs in the right of way and threw them in her trunk. Since then, she has removed hundreds of others.

�When people put signs in public places, it�s just as bad to me as seeing a fast-food bag or a plastic bottle. ... We need to keep our neighborhoods clean and fair.�

�If you wait for someone else to do it, it will never happen,� Thomas said. �I do it quick. I don�t lollygag.�

Thomas puts signs she gathers in the recycling bin. Thomas said that while there are many political-sign offenders, Ohio Treasurer Josh Mandel�s campaign is the worst �by far.� Mandel�s campaign did not return calls seeking comment.

Lessner said some politicians are getting the message.

�They were laughing at us the first year,� she said. �This year, they�re listening. There�s a lot of people that hate litter and visual clutter.�

Thomas F. Hayes, who is running for the Franklin County Common Pleas Court, personally removed his illegally placed signs after being notified by the Sign Ninjas, Lessner said.

Steve Faulkner, spokesman for the Ohio Department of Transportation, said highway workers will remove a sign �if there is blatant obstruction to vision or it otherwise creates a safety hazard. But unfortunately, we don�t have enough time to play political-sign Whac-a-Mole.�

The signs are taken to the nearest county ODOT garage, Faulkner said. The campaigns are notified they can pick up the signs for 30 days. After that, they are pitched.

ajohnson@dispatch.com

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