Remember the hullabaloo over the signage in AAA Vacuum’s shop windows? It’s not over yet. Far from it, actually.
Since Christina Hughes Babb reported in October on the City of Dallas’ code violation warning to the small business on Walnut Hill near Audelia, AAA Vacuum has joined a lawsuit filed against the city by the Institute of Justice. New regulations adopted in 2008 prohibit a certain amount of lettering larger than four inches high in the top two-thirds of a building façade. Caroline Thomi, whose family owns AAA, says the city finally told her to "either pay the fine and take the letters down off front of the building, or go to court. Then I said, I’ll just go to court," Thomi says.
The Institute of Justice was able to postpone her court date until August; in the meantime, the Institute is holding a press conference at AAA Vacuum at 11 a.m. this Wednesday morning, Thomi says, to invite businesses to post signs in their windows stating "Free Speech for Small Businesses". They have more than 700 of them, and these signs, Thomi points out, will not violate any city codes.
"The sign we’re putting up is perfectly legal because it’s political," she says. "You can have political signs, but can’t have [signs] pertaining to your business."
Visit Back Talk Lake Highlands tomorrow for more on this topic.
