CITY businesses have no authority to erect ‘no-parking signs’ in front or surrounding their operations and must first ask for permission from the Mayor and City Council (M&CC), Georgetown Mayor Patricia Chase-Green has noted.

At Monday’s statutory meeting, the mayor noted that some of the commercial banks are also guilty of the practice of taking it upon themselves to place signs.

“Our streets must remain clear,” Chase-Green stated, as she asked the City Engineer and the City Constabulary Department to look into the issue. When businesses take this approach, other citizens are blocked from parking on spaces that really belong to the Council, the mayor noted.

The M&CC had made it clear in the past that businesses and private citizens must first obtain permission — in writing — if they propose to erect signs on the City Council’s roads, pavements, parapets and other thoroughfares. An issue arose last year when the People’s Progressive Party (PPP) had its signs seized from in front of its Freedom House headquarters on Robb Street, Georgetown.

The party had complained that the signs were removed by M&CC workers without consent and had considered the act offensive, calling for the return of its property. But the City Council responded that it would be unlawful to erect any sign or place anything on council’s thoroughfares without the requisite permission in writing and noted that businesses and individuals have been evading this process.

Before any sign is erected on council’s thoroughfares, the inspectors of the City Engineer’s Department are required to conduct the appropriate inspections to determine the suitability of the area. The Municipal and District Councils Act, Chapter 28:01, relating to streets and other places, states: “No person shall leave, place or store, or cause to be left placed or stored, any vehicle, cart, dray, barrel, box, dust-bin, tree trunk, branch, limb, or any other thing upon any street, parapet or pavement, with any vehicle, cart, dray, barrel, box, dust bin, or other thing.”

The M&CC noted that the City Engineer has the power to remove any such vehicle, cart, dray, barrel, box, dust-bin, tree trunk, branch, limb or other thing left, placed or stored; and the cost of removing any such items may be recovered by the town clerk in a court of jurisdiction. Persons who are desirous of erecting signs in the city should seek permission in writing from the Office of the Town Clerk.