Neal wants equal play on campaign signs in NLV

Friday, June 18, 2004 | 9:30 a.m.

State Sen. Joe Neal, D-North Las Vegas, complained Wednesday to the North Las Vegas City Council that the city should force owners of vacant commercial property to allow any candidate to put campaign signs on those properties.

Neal, who is running for the Clark County Commission, said nothing had happened to his campaign signs. However, he went before the council because Linda Howard had some of her signs removed from a vacant lot at Cheyenne Avenue and Martin Luther King Boulevard. Howard, a university system regent, is running for the Senate seat now held by Neal.

Mayor Michael Montandon told Neal the city can't force people to allow signs on their private property, and it is up to the property owner to decide whose signs they will allow on their land.

Neal said that even if Montandon is right, the property owner who finds an unwanted campaign sign on their land should not be allowed to destroy the sign.

Montandon said he would ask city staff to look into whether someone is allowed to destroy a sign put on their property without their permission.