Simple solution to yard sale impasse

“I was never against yard sale signs,” he said. “I have just objected to people littering and not being responsible neighbors. I think that by working together, government and citizens can find common solutions to complex issues.” In addition to getting the new sign erected, McGlothlin has created a phone app that not only provides links to local yard sales, but those going on in Hood River and Portland. Information about how to download the app is posted on the board.

“The yard sale season is here and we are ready – this is the outcome I was looking for,” he said.

McGlothlin said the board, which once stood on St. Vincent De Paul property, is easily visible from 10th Street and the parking lot.

“We put it up two weeks ago and it is already being heavily used,” he said.

As a result, McGlothlin said there are no signs affixed to cardboard boxes anchored by rocks on the corner and less vehicles with signs in their window parked near the corner.

“So far, it seems the board is working well,” said McGlothlin. “People have become good neighbors and are removing old signs – the disturbance in ‘the force’ is now calm.”

He plans to get another bulletin board erected at the intersection of 10th Street and Dry Hollow Road or another well-travelled place on the east end of town.

McGlothlin said there has been no tangible cost to the city, which furnished the materials, to end a controversy that has been brewing for 30 years.

Past city efforts to stop signs from being stapled to utility poles and the sides of buildings led to signs being affixed to cardboard boxes.

When enforcement action was taken to stop boxes from littering the streets, people began taping the signs to car windows and parking them at the edges of intersections.

“The problem was that people were placing signs on private property, in public right-of-ways or nailing them to locations they should not have been,” said McGlothlin. “To compound the problem, once the sign became obsolete the owner failed to stop by and take it down or remove the debris.”

Ruth Beecher was one of the outspoken opponents of city regulatory efforts to stop signs from being posted anywhere but on the site of the sale.

She makes her living from yard sales and said it was “preposterous” that the city would have a code that prohibited people from advertising these events.

Then McGlothlin approached her with his new idea and Beecher agreed that it could be a workable solution to the impasse.

There were permits and regulatory hoops to go through in order to get the bulletin board installed but McGlothlin plowed through red tape to get the deed accomplished.

“I think what he has done is wonderful – he has solved the problem,” said Beecher.

She likes that people are also using the 10th and Trevitt bulletin board to post information about other community events and business opportunities.

“There’s plenty of room for everyone, I think this is great,” she said.

McGlothlin said there is also a signboard for people to use at the Mid-Columbia Senior Center but the one behind The Dalles Area Chamber of Commerce is too far off the beaten path to be used and needs to be moved.

“There is a way to overcome any problem if people are willing to work together,” he said.