On a tip, I sought and found these signs displayed May 11 at The Copy Service, Dollar Video, Lukulos, and Mason Properties. Information in the lower right corner identifies the business as The Copy Service, part of the local business empire of Alderman Dave Baker.
We know from a previous post that temporary signs in DeKalb require permits. A May 13 request of the city for a list of permits was misunderstood, and a list obtained early last week was incomplete. Finally on Friday arrived a document from which we can fairly confidently ascertain that Alderman Baker did not obtain permits for these signs.
That’s not all.
Off-premise temporary signs are generally prohibited for the Class II category. (Class II is commercial/industrial, Class I government and Class III religious/benevolent/philanthropic.) The one possible exception I can see is that a Class II establishment might be listed as a sponsor on an event sign displayed on a Class I or Class III property. Such is not the case here.
While the off-premise signs have since been removed, a check made this weekend showed one of the signs remaining up at The Copy Service itself. Meaning that, even if Mr. Baker had obtained a permit, he’s exceeded the 14-day limit for display.
Mr. Baker did not respond to an invitation to comment.