City sign bounty hunters—your day is coming

In theory, it was a good law: unleash an army of citizens to wage war against the “We Buy Houses” signs invading Baltimore and the people responsible for them who typically prey on those facing foreclosure.

In reality, the Department of Public Works, the city agency that was supposed to work with the army by receiving the signs and fining those responsible, wasn’t able or willing to do so.

“Their excuses didn’t make a whole lot of sense,” said Robert Strupp, director of research and policy for the Community Law Center in Hampden. “I don’t think they wanted to deal with it. They don’t want those signs.”

Strupp does; he has about 1,200 in his office. He’s cautiously optimistic that he’ll be able to clear them out now that the city shifted command of the citizen army — and fine-collecting paperwork — to the Department of Housing and Community Development.

Two years after the law was passed, it may finally have teeth. But what a teething process.

Mary Pat Clarke was the City Council member who sponsored the law, an amended version of one that’s been on the books for years.

“You can’t post commercial signs on public property,” Clarke said. “What I did was … increase the fines [from $100 to $200] and authorize private citizens to take the signs down and to be able to designate a community group to get half the fine. It was a little bounty.”

The signs had cropped up on street corners and in medians during the housing boom (and subsequent bust). Those who posted them promised to buy homes right away, often without charging real estate fees.

“People don’t know that they’re selling to someone who’s not regulated,” Strupp said. “Victims think some guy is going to buy their house, but he’s buying the right to sell the house. These are people who put properties under contract without ever intending to own them.”

He and the staff at the center have identified some who use the signs by calling the numbers on them and searching online. “It’s not that hard to do,” he said.

Strupp did a test case in 2006 shortly after the law passed. After removing and researching a sign, he called Public Works to find out how to proceed.

 “DPW said it didn’t have the authority to accept the signs from anyone other than DPW employees,” he recalled. “They told us to present the signs to the police district where they were taken down. So we went to the Northwest Police District, and the officer there was quite puzzled. It went nowhere. I went back to Mary Pat Clarke at that point.”

Clarke said she told city officials that anyone bringing in a sign could sign an affidavit. Those accused of violating the law had the right to an appeal before the department’s environmental control board.

Still, the law wasn’t enforced, and Strupp’s sign collection expanded.

In May 2007, the 12 Public Works employees responsible for enforcing the sign law and all sanitation regulations were moved to Housing. That department has been grappling with the mechanics of the law ever since, said its director of communications, Cheron Porter

Clarke amended the law yet again late last year to reflect the new agency in charge and to clarify the language.

“The sign law seems basic on its face, but it is actually quite complicated in implementation,” Porter told Exhibit A in an e-mail. “All code enforcement work is linked to a property with a block and lot. To be able to track and issue citations for these signs, we needed to re-tool our entire system to allow for citations on city-owned signs, trees, medians and other areas with no fixed location.

“This law also required the support and assistance of individuals within the finance department, environmental control board, budgets and accounting, and the mayor’s office of information technology to ensure the data would be properly collected, reported and fine sharing could occur with participating neighborhood associations.”

Porter said she and one or two other Housing employees will test the new enforcement process to make sure it’s ready. Strupp said he’s been told it could be running this month. in August.

Meanwhile, Strupp will keep adding to his sign collection. And he’ll keep tracking down those behind them.

Robin T. Reid is a freelance writer based in Baltimore.