Re-framing the A-frame

Some communities consider sandwich boards a safety hazard.
NYC’s various communities are considering the legalities of sandwich-board signs. A current law fines tenants and property owners for installing the advertising boards in front of their properties on the sidewalk.
The safety risks in putting up sandwich boards that promote real-estate open houses have led certain communities to pass a resolution to ban the signs. The new legislation would place a presumptive burden on anyone whose name, telephone number or address appears on the signs, regardless of the tenant or property owner, according to The New York Times. The proposal was discussed at the council’s committee on sanitation and solid-waste management. The Myrtle Avenue Brooklyn Partnership, a Brooklyn neighborhood business organization that submitted testimony, protested the technicalities that “not all signs are created equal.” The organization holds that A-frames (or menuboards or sandwich boards) attract pedestrians and add neighborhood charm.
The Yakima (WA) City Council recently ruled businesses can’t display the temporary signs that are placed in rights-of-way for more than 30 days at a time, and no more than 90 days total in a year. Also, a business is allowed only one sign.