Gilbert to reverse 'sign walkers' ordinance

Gilbert will no longer be able to ban people from walking around with signs announcing "Jesus Loves You" or "Pizza. You. Now," which are ubiquitous in other parts of the East Valley.

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The Legislature passed a law this spring that will soon require that cities back off a hard line against so-called "sign walkers" who flip, spin and flash brightly colored signs advertising car dealerships, pizzerias, and, lately, going out of business sales.

Mike Van Dusen was holding a sign Thursday near Gilbert and Germann roads advertising 50 percent off at a Linens-N-Things that is closing. He was on the west side of Gilbert Road - the side of the street opposite the store - which is in Chandler.

He said that no one had told him about the Gilbert ordinance, but his employer did tell him to stand on the Chandler side of the street.

Soon, it won't matter where he stands.

The Gilbert Planning Commission has a recommendation on the table to allow the currently banned sign walkers and remove that type of advertising from a list of unapproved signs. The measure could be in effect by the end of November, and according to state law has to be in enacted by the end of the year, said Mike Milillo, a senior planner for the town.

"The town felt that there were aesthetic reasons for why we didn't want to have them, and there were safety reasons," he said. "They can be hazardous to motorists."

Jet Media Promotions owner Jim Torgeson said that the restrictions in Gilbert and Scottsdale have always gone over the line in restricting advertising.

His Mesa business, which deals exclusively in this type of promotion, said for some retail and commercial operations, sign walker advertising yields much better results than newspaper and television ads.

"With this advertising it means that the average guy can say, 'Hey, I'm selling great pizza,' and he can take out a sign outside of his business instead of doing a $20,000 television campaign," Torgeson said. "It protects the free speech of the small businessman."

CiCi's Pizza Buffet, a national franchise, was using its right to free speech Friday during the lunch hour. Justin Merrill, 17, was finishing up his street duty for the Mesa franchise near Gilbert Road and Southern Avenue around 1 p.m. He was spinning a sign that read "Pizza. You. Now."

"It's kind of demanding, isn't it?" he said.

That's pretty much the point of the direct advertising, Torgeson said. He and others protested Gilbert's restrictions on the sign walkers early this year, before the law was passed that forced Gilbert's hand.

He, along with a group, held a sign along a busy Gilbert street that said "Jesus Loves You" to see if the town would issue a citation. It didn't, according to news accounts.

Torgeson said the protest helped prove a point. If the Jesus sign doesn't distract motorists, then neither does the one for the car dealership.

"Really, what's more distracting?" he said. "Someone holding a sign, or an attractive person standing there?"