Your Boulevard, You Mow It- But Do You Own It?

All my life I've called that strip of grass between a sidewalk and the street a "boulevard". Seems not everybody calls it that- there's a fine list of terms you can find here and also here.  Seems different regions have different names for it.  But, for our purposes I'm sticking with boulevard.

With political season heating up, candidate signs are popping up like dandelions. Well, unlike dandelions, it's against the rules to have signs on your boulevard in Bismarck.  Keep in mind Bismarck is not the only city that has an ordinance like this.  Every city I've lived in has a similar rule.

Similar rules also apply to rummage sale signs. You can read the full set of rules by clicking here. Her's a taste of what you'll find from the City of Bismarck.

 This means if you are having a rummage sale you can put the sign on your own yard, but no signs on the boulevard, boulevard trees, stop signs, light poles, fire hydrants, traffic signals or any other public property.

Now, maybe you've never considered your boulevard to be "public property" but if you ask my dad he could explain it at great length and with great passion.  I'd say it was about 1975, and we were having the only rummage sale I can remember. My dad had made a nice sign and out on the boulevard it went.  In no time at all, the Minot police department pulled up and told my dad he had to remove the sign. Of course my dad explained to the officer how we took care of the grass and the tree branches. It's one of the very few times I've seen my dad angry...and he's still angry about it 45 years later.

Full disclosure (hoping Statute of Limitations has expired), on Halloween that year me and my juvenile delinquent friends were out trick-or-treating.  The November election was just days away and signs were everywhere.

Being the trouble makers we were, we knocked every last one in the neighborhood down.

Probably shouldn't have had them on the boulevard.  Just trying to keep the peace.