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Camp Hill is a Borough in Cumberland County in an area considered "Harrisburg West Shore"
aka "The Great White West".
Posted on 10/27/2022 7:18:53 PM PDT by lightman
Camp Hill residents are now able to post more than two political yard signs ahead of the election without risk of being fined, after an agreement Thursday between a GOP political group and the borough.
The Borough agreed not to enforce its sign ordinance instead of fighting a restraining order and requested injunction against the ordinance that had been filed by Marc Scaringi, a lawyer who is challenging the constitutionality of the ordinance.
The ordinance, in place since last year, restricted residents to a maximum of two signs on their front lawn and those signs could only be posted 60 days before the election and within 30 days afterward. But with the agreement, the borough will overlook violations, for now.
The agreement lasts until Jan. 31. U.S. District Court Judge Jennifer Wilson pushed through an expedited schedule to see the case decided by Jan. 20, 2023.
The entire ordinance has not been repealed— prohibitions on placing signs between the street and sidewalk, traffic safety and aesthetics are still in place.
It was better for the borough to pause its enforcement voluntarily to avoid the costs associated with the initial round of legal wrangling, according to Isaac Wakefield, a solicitor for Camp Hill. But, he said: “The borough is confident in its ordinance and intends to defend it through the remainder of the case.”
Scaringi counted the decision as a win for the moment
“Let us have political yard signs. Let us conduct our right to free speech,” Scaringi said. “If the borough is concerned about aesthetics, beauty and looks, traffic safety, vehicle safety and pedestrian safety, they have lots of other sections of the code that specifically address aesthetics and safety. We’re not challenging those.”
Scaringi represents Caroline Michiraju, Katherine Pearson and the Camp Hill Borough Republican Association, all of whom were upset by the borough’s sign ordinance.
The dispute goes beyond having just one too many yard signs focused on current political candidates.
In one case, a Republican homeowner who was warned by the borough had at least eight signs in front of a ranch home, including one large homemade sign staked into the yard for this year’s Senate race and three large banners taped or propped against their garage doors. Two of the banners are regarding the 2020 presidential election, which already has been decided. One of the smaller yard signs also was about the 2020 presidential election and another is meant to insult the current president.
The ordinance prohibits placing temporary signs more than 60 days before a “singular event,” and requires the signs to be taken down within 30 days after the “singular event.” In the case of Scaringi’s clients, the “singular event” is being interpreted as election day.
As the Nov. 8 election approached, residents were warned to take their signs down if they put them out too early, and were prohibited from placing signs for more than two candidates. At least 45 warnings had been issued between August and Thursday, Scaringi said.
There are five contested races in the general election of Nov. 8, meaning residents could not legally place signs supporting all their favored candidates prior to the injunction, Scaringi argued.
The sign ordinance was first put into place Dec. 20, 2021.
The lawsuit currently challenges the limits on the number of signs and the duration, saying they violate the First Amendment. Scaringi however said he will be amending the complaint by Nov. 14 to challenge the ordinance as unconstitutionally vague regarding the “singular event,” language especially since the election includes mail-in voting.
“There is no definition of what a singular event is,” Scaringi said. “It is a cacophony of chaos. If mail-in voting begins on Oct. 3, is the 60-day limit before that?”
Camp Hill Borough posted an update on its website that it is proud it has saved taxpayers significant legal expenses and staff time by bypassing the initial legal challenges by Scaringi.
“Critically, the joint stipulation makes no concessions as to the legality of the Borough’s sign ordinance. The Borough remains well-positioned to defend the substance of its ordinance and looks forward to doing so on an abbreviated schedule to timely resolve the issues contested,” the borough wrote.
Egotistical petty despots CANNOT admit that they flunked Constitutional Law 101.
Pennsylvania Ping!
Please ping me with articles of interest.
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Camp Hill is a Borough in Cumberland County in an area considered "Harrisburg West Shore"
aka "The Great White West".
Camp Hill is an enclave of RINO’s and Liberals resistant to Conservatives in its various elections over the year including the ones for school board IMHO.
I expect Daniels to carry that district 60/40 over Perry.
Could be the borough has “evolved” like any close to the river West Shore Harrisburg municipality over the years.
Move westwards the voting pattern changes.
Aye, which is why with every redistricting Scott Perry is saddled with additions from the east and subtractions from the west.
He is probably the most hated man in Congress to the libtards.
I can see maybe some reasonable limitations, but this is ridiculous. If the Camp Hill authorities could see what I saw yesterday — over a hundred JB Pritzker for Governor signs along a quarter mile stretch of 127th Street in Chicago — they would understand true excess.
I own a quarter mile of road frontage on a rural road which sees fairly high commuter volumes at peak hours.
So at each end of my frontage I have a gauntlet of six GOP candidate signs.
Ja vell.
That sounds reasonable. The hundred or so Pritzker signs were on the north edge of a picturesque old cemetery. (Yes, I know the jokes about Chicago politicians campaigning for the cemetery vote.) It looked more like a trash dump than anything else. Let’s see how soon they all get picked up after the election.
I lived in and around camp hill for about 5 yrs. Meh. To much traffic,people,and expensive. Love being back in the rust belt.
My wife and I spent t 5he early years of our 30 years tomorrow marriage in Camp Hill. Worked at EDS. I used to listen to Bob Durgan on 590 WHP before/after? Rush: “gimma a physical break!”. We got an occupational tax bill for my wife as a “homemaker”?!?!
The ammout of electioneering in the polling places in PA was very odd compared to where we came from i KY. We voted for Peg Luksik over the abominable Tom Ridge.
Marc Scaringi is a bull dog!!! His firm won several key legal battles against enforced employees jabs during COVID and business lockdowns.
How did U.S. Rep. Scott Perry keep his seat? Outside money, home cooking and turnout
Much was said during this campaign about how Perry had essentially lost the incumbent’s edge because of the court-ordered redistricting that took away more than 40 percent of his old constituents.
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