Factions allege dirty tactics

A group opposed to a Feb. 5 ballot measure to determine where the next Newport Beach City Hall would be built claims more than a dozen large campaign signs placed along MacArthur Boulevard are missing.

Members of the group City Hall in the Park, which is in favor of the ballot measure, said Tuesday that they also have had campaign signs removed or vandalized in the weeks leading up to the election.

“We thought everybody was above that, but apparently not. We’ll put up two signs for every one sign missing,” said Karen Tringali from the group Newporters Vote No on B, which is against Measure B, a ballot measure that would require the next city hall to be built next to the central library on Avocado Avenue.

The group claims 15 to 18 signs that are about 4-feet wide and 2-feet tall are missing from a stretch of MacArthur Boulevard between San Joaquin Hills Road and Highway 73.

The signs, which the group placed along the roadway last week, were not posted against city regulations, Tringali said. Signs from the opposition group City Hall in the Park remain in place along the road.

The group was first alerted to the missing signs by supporters who noticed empty spaces along the roadway where signs once stood.

Various reports from other locations around the city of missing No on B signs also have come in during the past few days, Tringali said.

Newporters Vote No on B has told police about the missing signs, but Tringali said the group was trying to move past the incident.

“We’ve got more important things to do than track down sign stealers,” Tringali said.

With an election that will determine where the next Newport Beach City Hall could be built only weeks away, campaign efforts on both sides of the issue are heating up.

The group City Hall in the Park, which is in favor of the ballot measure, also claims its signs have been vandalized or taken down.

Lead Measure B proponent Bill Ficker from the group City Hall in the Park said Tuesday several signs from the route he drives every day to his office on Balboa Peninsula have been removed although Newporters Vote No on B signs remain.

Reports of other signs gone missing have come in and two signs on Jamboree Road were recently bent over, Ficker said.

“That’s not the name of our game on our side,” Ficker said. “There have been no dirty tricks on our side. We dot our T’s and cross every I.”

Sgt. Evan Sailor said complaints of missing signs are common in election years, but there’s little police can do.

Sometimes signs are removed by city workers if they are posted illegally on city property, Sailor said, although representatives from both sides of the city hall issue claim their signs were posted legally.

“I think over the years whether it’s been different measures or different elected officials, it’s been pretty common,” Sailor said.

“We’ve experienced some vandalism with some young kids ripping stuff down because they think it’s funny or it’s illegally posted on city property, but it’s very hard for us to prove who did it.”

BRIANNA BAILEY may be reached at (714) 966-4625 or at brianna.bailey@latimes.com.