(a) No person shall place, maintain or display upon or in view of any street any unauthorized sign, signal, marking or device which purports to be or is an imitation of or resembles a traffic control device or railroad sign or signal, or which attempts to direct the movement of traffic, or which hides from view or interferes with the effectiveness of any traffic control device or any railroad sign or signal, and no person shall place or maintain, nor shall any public authority permit upon any street any traffic sign or signal bearing thereon any commercial advertising. This section does not prohibit the erection upon private property adjacent to streets of signs giving useful directional information and of a type that cannot be mistaken for traffic control devices.
(b) Every such prohibited sign, signal, marking or device is a public nuisance, and the Police Division is authorized to remove the same or cause it to be removed.
(ORC 4511.16)