The city of Dayton, Ohio fined bakery owner Marissa Ortiz $14,500 this week over a sidewalk chalkboard sign advertising cinnamon rolls, citing a sign ordinance last updated in 1998.
Dayton's Department of Building Services issued the citation to Ortiz's Vine Street Bakery on Monday, September 1, 2026. Inspector Daniel Kowalski wrote up the violation after receiving a complaint about a chalkboard A-frame sign placed on the public sidewalk outside the shop. The citation cites Dayton City Code Section 150.06, which restricts freestanding signage on public right-of-way without a permit.
The fine breaks down as $500 for the initial violation and $250 per day for the 56 days the city says the sign had been out, based on social media posts the inspector's office pulled as evidence. That brings the total to $14,500. Ortiz says she never received a warning before the citation arrived by certified mail.
"I put a chalkboard on the sidewalk. I didn't build a billboard."— Marissa Ortiz, owner, Vine Street Bakery
The permit nobody mentioned
Ortiz opened Vine Street Bakery in the Oregon District two years ago. She says no city official told her a sidewalk sign required a $75 annual encroachment permit when she opened the business. The citation was her first contact with Dayton's sign enforcement division since her business license was issued in 2024.
The chalkboard itself is a $40 A-frame Ortiz bought at a restaurant supply store. It advertised the bakery's cinnamon rolls at $4.50 apiece. City records show the encroachment permit she lacked would have cost $75 a year — five times less than the fine she now owes for not having it.
Dayton's sidewalk sign ordinance dates to 1998 and has been enforced unevenly since, according to city council minutes. A 2022 audit found fewer than a dozen encroachment permits issued citywide despite hundreds of businesses using sidewalk signage.
An appeal is filed
Ortiz filed an appeal with the city's Board of Zoning Appeals on Tuesday, September 2, arguing the daily-fine calculation was excessive for a first offense. Her attorney, Rachel Simms of the Dayton Small Business Legal Clinic, called the fine 'disproportionate to a chalkboard sign that cost forty dollars.' A hearing date has not been set.
Dayton's Department of Building Services says the fine stands until the appeal is heard. Spokesperson Angela Reyes confirmed the department has issued three similar sidewalk-sign citations since January 2026, all under the same ordinance. Ortiz has removed the sign while the appeal is pending.
The cinnamon rolls are still $4.50. There's just no sign telling anyone.
Man ARRESTED With 47 Stolen Garden Gnomes
Only In America
Police in Sarasota, Florida arrested a man Sunday, August 30, 2026, after neighbors reported garden gnomes vanishing from front yards over several weeks. Officers say they found 47 gnomes lined up by size in the suspect's garage.
Sarasota County Sheriff's deputies charged Daniel Fenwick, 38, with petty theft after a homeowner's doorbell camera caught him lifting a gnome from a flower bed on Datura Street. Deputies say the gnomes, worth roughly $15 to $60 apiece, had been reported missing since early August.
Deputies said Fenwick had arranged the gnomes in his garage by height, shortest to tallest, with several repainted in fresh coats of gloss enamel. He is due in Sarasota County court on September 10. Neighbors have been invited to come identify their gnomes at the sheriff's evidence lot.