Pacific Palisades Residents Report Political Sign Theft

By LILY TINOCO | Reporter

With voting in the 2021 California gubernatorial recall election underway, residents of Pacific Palisades have reported the stealing of their political signs.

Adam Wolman, Palisadian and member of Pacific Palisades Democratic Club, said as a part of the club’s efforts to spread the word of the election, there are signs that individuals can get in exchange for a donation. He obtained a few, followed by a rash of unexpected sign theft.

“The first sign I put out got taken, then I put a second one and a third and a fourth … we’re on the fifth, so four got taken,” Wolman said to the Palisadian-Post. 

He said his neighbors were able to capture a suspect through their security camera, identifying the face of the individual stealing the sign, along with their car and license plate. The neighbors filed a police report, and Wolman’s wife shared photos of the individual on Nextdoor: “We wanted the neighborhood to be aware and for this person not to be in the shadows, getting away with stealing things,” Wolman said.

Wolman said another neighbor spotted a car in the neighborhood pulling up to a sign and stealing it while walking their dog, leaving another suspect at large.

Palisadian Suzi Lonergan said she collected a sign from PPDC on a Sunday and put it out on her lawn the following Monday morning. She said by 6 a.m. that same day, her neighbor also witnessed an individual steal it and drive away on Chautauqua Boulevard. She has since put up a new sign.

“It feels very violative. We’re expressing our opinions in a way that is encouraged,” Wolman said to the Post. “There’s a long tradition of putting up lawn signs to endorse a candidate or position, and you figure people will either agree with it and be inspired to vote that way or maybe they will disagree … you have a certain expectation that people will be civil, and if they disagree, they will just shake their heads and move on and not steal your sign.

“It’s one of those things where you’re like, ‘Oh, it’s not that big of a deal, they didn’t hurt me or people in my family or damage my property’ … but it still feels like somebody stepped over a line and took something from your feeling of security. It’s hard to feel like everybody is being neighborly and kind.”

As the Palisadian-Post went to print Tuesday, Pacific Palisades Senior Lead Officer Brian Espin had not returned a request for more information about how many instances of sign theft have been reported to the Los Angeles Police Department.