Erik Ose, who owns Lost City Music and Video, located on 402 Rosemary St., says small business owners and community organizations should be allowed to post fliers on telephone poles for grass-roots advertising purposes.
But according to section 16-3 of the town code, "no signs or notices for advertising purposes shall be fastened or tacked to telephone, telegraph or electric light poles or trees on the streets or sidewalks."
Last week Ose petitioned the Town Council to revise or repeal the ordinance so signs can be posted on poles.
During the meeting, Ose told the council that two Chapel Hill police officers issued him a citation for stapling a poster on a pole in front of the Franklin Street post office and refusing to tear the poster down.
Ose said that although the police officers were courteous, he was disturbed when the officers said they were surprised that Ose would bother being cited and having to go to court when he could have taken the posters down, apologized and put up more posters on the next corner.
"But you know, who's fooling who here?" Ose said Monday night. "Why should a citizen have to play cat-and-mouse games with the police when they're simply trying to publicize a worthy cause or advertise their business or speak out about an issue they care about?"
Chapel Hill Planning Director Roger Waldon said he was surprised to hear Ose's comments on Monday night because he usually hears complaints about people posting signs on poles.
"Usually, the comments we get are the opposite," Waldon said. "The main way in which this issue has come before is periodically there is concern about the appearance of downtown (Chapel Hill)."
Waldon said local merchants have always been concerned that scraps of fliers on telephone poles would degrade the appearance of the downtown area.