The City of Santa Ana restricts when we can hold garage sales.  Their garage sale ordinance specifies that we can hold garage sales for residential properties “on the first full weekend of March, June, September, and December each year.” As today, Saturday, is still part of August we cannot hold garage sales until next weekend, on September 7 and 8.

Of course you have to figure that the Santa Ana Code Enforcement officers are not working today, although the cops are.  Please note that the City’s ordinance states that “Persons conducting sales on any unauthorized weekend or violating any of the above regulations will be subject to an Administrative Fine or a misdemeanor citation.”  Some NIMBY’s are already going nuts about this on Facebook.  And the gentrifiers at Downtown Inc. are having a cow too.

The city moved to limit garage sales back when the Usual Suspects ran things.  We now have an all Latino City Council but I doubt they will do anything to change this ordinance.  We really should allow garage sales on the first weekend of each month.  It is a great way to clear our your old stuff, make a little money and the needy folks in town benefit from being able to buy decent goods at lower prices.

Here are the rest of Santa Ana’s Garage Sale rules:

No permit is required.Garage Sale

For information on “Estate Sales”, click here.

Churches and businesses must contact Planning at (714) 647-5804 for regulations for “temporary outdoor activities”

Regulations for residential garage sales include:

• Sales may only occur on Saturday and/or Sunday
• Sales may begin at 8:00 a.m. and must end at 5:00 p.m.
• Items sold may not be displayed on the public sidewalks, parkways, streets or alleys
• Items sold must be used goods, from your household, and not purchased for resale
• Signs may NOT be posted on telephone poles, public street lights, traffic signs, or on any structure in the public right-of-way (Signs posted illegally will be removed and a fine may be mailed to the responsible party)
• Signs may be posted one week before the sale weekend
• Signs must be taken down one day after the last date of your sale
• Persons conducting sales on any unauthorized weekend or violating any of the above regulations will be subject to an Administrative Fine or a misdemeanor citation.

For additional information call Community Preservation at (714) 667-2780.