Who would have thought that a single individual taking a stand for the First Amendment would prompt Alexandria to remove a 50-year old ordinance from the books? But that is just what happened — and it’s a victory for everyone’s free speech rights, and everyone’s right to sell their car without ridiculous restrictions on advertising.
For those who are new to the story, before March 14, it was illegal in Alexandria to have a “For Sale” sign displayed on your parked car. The law has been on the books since 1963, allowing for city officials to ticket and collect fines of up to $100 for each offense. Unfortunately, this happened to me in early 2012, and I fell victim to a ticket on my car for violating a law that I didn’t even know existed.
Feeling that my First Amendment rights were being violated, I filed a lawsuit against the city last October.
In response, City Council has now unanimously voted to repeal this ill-conceived law that had been trapping unaware Alexandrians for the last half-century. My lawyers at the Pacific Legal Foundation (who took this case without charge) discovered that over the past five years, more than 700 citations were given to Alexandrians, resulting in more than $28,000 in fines for the city. In other words, a citation was written almost every two-and-a-half days to unsuspecting residents like me.
I grew up thinking that being able to advertise, as long as the advertisement contained truthful information, was a person’s right. It is a form of free speech, after all.
Alexandria was not, and is not, alone in this practice. Other local governments and even some of our nation’s courts have forgotten that free speech is essential to free enterprise. The ability to express truthful information to potential customers is not universally, or even consistently, protected around the country, nor even within the Commonwealth. I would suggest, however, that it should be protected just as other forms of speech are protected. Being able to communicate freely with potential customers is essential. For sellers, being able to advertise might be just as important as being able to express support for a political candidate, to proselytize a religion, or to express an opinion on public policy. Freedom to do these other things is important too, but they can’t put bread on the table.
I am so grateful to the liberty-loving attorneys at Pacific Legal Foundation, as well as to the fine attorneys at Holtzman Vogel Josefiak PLLC. Because of their efforts, Alexandria has seen fit to do the sensible thing and repeal this poorly thought-out law. I applaud the city for doing what is right for Alexandrians but if the city wants to continue in this vein, it might consider repealing other freedom-squelching laws. For example, the other half of the same section that prohibited my “For Sale” sign makes it illegal to do maintenance on your own vehicle if parked on the street. So be careful out there, Alexandrians, especially if you have to change out a headlight or replace an air filter.
The writer is a resident of Alexandria.