Champaign City Council voted 8-1 Tuesday to repeal a previous ordinance that prohibited residential advertising, including hanging information on doorknobs and putting fliers under windshield wipers.

Marci Dodds, Dist. 4 councilwoman, voted against the repeal.

“Leaving the law as it is won’t work because it’s unenforceable and the current ordinance is invalid,” said Tom Bruno, council member-at large. “It is illegal and immoral to threaten people with an invalid law.”

Ordinances that prohibit residential advertising were ruled unconstitutional by the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals, Bruno said. The issue was brought to the council’s attention when local businesses distributed handbills and door hangers for several different companies.

“Basically, they called our bluff and said they would sue because the ordinance is invalid,” Bruno said.

Because the ordinance is invalid and unenforceable, the city or state’s attorney could never be sent to prosecute companies taking advantage of residential advertising, Bruno added.

Karen Foster, council member-at large, said residents could handle advertisements in other ways.

“They can contact the owner of a (parking) lot and ask them to put up a no soliciting or no trespassing sign to stop handbills,” Foster said.

Bruno said residents could post similar signs in their yards or call and complain to the company to discourage residential advertising.

He compared the ordinance to laws that ban inter-racial marriage and flag burning, that are “left on the books”, even though they are invalid or unconstitutional.

“It’s a first amendment thing, and I feel very strongly about it,” Bruno said. “Old laws that are unconstitutional, like this ordinance, are often left on the books because it is the popular thing to do, but it is a horrible approach to take.”