Boca Raton resident Michael Bagenstos came home Tuesday to a neon notice from Palm Beach County Code Enforcement plastered to his Trump-Pence sign.
“I’ve got 10 days to remove it or they’re going to remove it for me,” he told WPTV.
“All political signs must be removed by the 10th day after the election,” Bagenstos read from the notice.
Bagenstos pointed out that others in his neighborhood display Ku Klux Klan flags outside of their homes, and said he thinks the rules create a double standard for free speech.
“My wife and I drive by a KKK flag flying high and proud welcoming everyone to our neighborhood,” he said. “It seems like the code enforcement for Palm Beach County has a double standard.”
WPTV showed footage of at least two homes in the neighborhood with KKK flags.
“I think he’s got a strong argument because he’s got a sign expressing a political belief on how own private property,” local ACLU attorney Jim Green told the news site. “Those are two strikes in his favor.”
Green said sign ordinances must comply with the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, WJXT reports.
Code enforcement director Robert Santos-Alborna told WPTV the Unified Land Development Code requires residents to remove political signs within 10 days after an election, but does not regulate the content of flags.
He said Bagenstos’ sign must “be altered in such a way that would no longer be deemed a campaign sign” and he must obtain a special permit to keep it on his property.
One of Bagenstos’ neighbors flying a KKK flag told WPLG in 2014 that the First Amendment protects his right to display his white pride.
“As many people know, the white families are producing less children because the father and mother work and you have interracial marriages and gay marriages, so there are less and less white children being born every day,” the homeowner, who identified himself as Mr. Hayes, said at the time. “So we’re against that.”
The KKK flag, along with a Confederate flag and sign reading “members wanted” has prompted mostly positive reactions, he said.
“Don’t get anybody throwing bottles on my lawn or anything like that,” Hayes said. “They toot their horn. They stop. They wave. They take pictures.”
“Hey, nobody stops the Puerto Ricans from flying their Puerto Rican flag or the Jews from having their yarmulke or whatever it is in the holidays,” Hayes said. “I mean, everybody is entitled to do what they want to do. That’s what this country is all about — freedom of speech.”
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