Park Ridge Council Votes to Repeal Sign Ordinance After Councilman Hoffman is Charged with Violating the Ordinance

On 9/8/26, Park Ridge Council voted 3-0 with two abstentions to repeal Ordinance 101-34.C.8, the Ordinance that bars political signs (and all other non-governmental signs) from public property. The vote actually comprised two separate repeal measures, one with a patently unconstitutional permit requirement, which went into immediate effect, and the other, to amend that version to remove the permit requirement, sending it back to the Planning Board for further consideration. The vote, along party lines, included abstentions by Councilmembers Hoffman and Mintz, with Councilman Metzdorf absent. The fact that Councilman Hoffman abstained suggests he is aware that his co-sponsorship and subsequent votes in favor of the repeal, prior to his 9/8 abstention, were, indeed inconsistent and improper. On 9/28, charges against Councilman Hoffman for allegedly violating Ordinance 101-34.C.8 and a related charge of driving while using a cellphone will be heard at the Westwood-Hillsdale Municipal Court. It remains to be seen whether or not the Court will dismiss the charges on the basis of Council's repeal of the sign ordinance on purported constitutional grounds. At the 9/8 Meeting, resident Howard Fredrics spoke in opposition to the proposed repeal, in particular on the basis that a member of Council had been charged with violating the very Ordinance being considered for repeal, and since other members were also implicated in violating the Ordinance. Fredrics noted that Courts are loathe to pursue charges based on laws that have since been repealed, particularly when they are repealed on purported constitutional grounds. A video of Dr. Fredrics' address along with subsequent votes to repeal the Ordinance are available at: https://youtu.be/0P1CsLLHXL0?si=olRM7Gp7_KicpLxi&t=152 A copy of the address to Mayor and Council may be found here:

Address to Mayor and Council 9.8.26.pdf

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UPDATE: The Park Ridge Planning Board voted unanimously on 9/9 to approve the version of the repeal measure without the permit requirement as consistent with the Borough's Master Plan.

This time, after abstaining from voting on the repeal at the 9/8 Council Meeting, Councilman Hoffman, who also sits on the Planning Board, voted as a Board member to approve the repeal. He somehow did not find it necessary to abstain, despite the clear conflict of interest, given the ongoing Ordinance violation case against him. Was this because Dr. Fredrics was not present to once again, call this conflict to the attention of the Board? Also interesting is the fact that Board Member and Republican Council Candidate, Marc Weinberg, voted to approve the repeal, and failed to inform the Board that he was present when Dr. Fredrics handed out copies of the Ordinance violation summons against Councilman Hoffman at the 9/8 Council Meeting. Why didn't Weinberg inform the Board of what he had witnessed, so that they could table the matter until after the Court case? Could it be because he's a partisan Republican, and that he was, therefore, like Republican Council Members, trying to protect Councilman Hoffman from being held to account? What do YOU think?