RADFORD -- A year after the Radford City Council's action to eradicate yard sale signs from area roadways, bargain buyers and sellers still have mixed reactions.

The council limited residents in June 2008 to holding three yard sales per year (with a maximum length of three days) and to advertising with one sign on their own property or using bulletin board postings. Anyone holding a yard sale must also obtain a permit.

Council members said the ordinance was necessary because residents neglected to remove their signs from intersections, resulting in excessive clutter on public rights of way.

Council member Bruce Brown, who gave the one dissenting vote on the ordinance last year, said residents do not have a problem with obtaining permits, but many claim they can't adequately advertise their yard sales.

"What they're upset about is the signage," Brown said.

Fellow council member Laurie Buchwald said she thinks the bulletin boards are a good solution, though more may be needed. She thinks the complaints will die down once residents get used to using the boards.

"It always takes some adjustment when a new policy is begun, but once people learn the new process, things settle down," Buchwald said in an e-mail.

At the height of unofficial yard sale season, some sellers say they are having trouble drawing customers to their sales because they can't advertise at intersections, where signs would be more visible.

"Everybody here's upset," said Todd Ratliff, who lives on Dundee Drive, where he holds a yard sale every year. "No one can get to me because they don't know how to get to me."

He said he is concerned that people won't know about his sale because they won't see signs and might not know to look on the bulletin boards.

Ratliff said he did not know about the boards until one of his customers told him about them the day of his sale.

The city originally put up two community bulletin boards, on West Main Street behind the police department and at Wadsworth and 10th streets. After further discussion in April, the board on West Main was relocated to a more convenient location by the fire department.

Becky Hawke, public relations coordinator for the city of Radford, said two additional signs will soon go up at Social Services on West Main and the Depot Lot on East Main Street.

According to Buchwald, many residents think the look of the city has improved since the council took action. Some signs had been placed on private property without permission before the ordinance was passed.

"These signs would often be left in place for weeks after the event and created a trashy appearance in the city," she said.

While he does think the community bulletin boards are a reasonable alternative, Brown said he thinks yard sales should be encouraged as something that helps the economy, so he doesn't want to restrict them.

"It helps pay for a vacation and put gas in the car," he said.

He worries that the ordinance is too strict a solution to a problem about trash on intersections, and he would rather see punishments for those who neglect to remove their signs after a sale is over.

"We're making a mountain out of a mole hill," he said.

With the lack of visibility, Ratliff said he expected to receive a decrease in business at this year's yard sale, compared with previous years.

"Goodwill will receive about 90 percent of my merchandise," he said.

But other sellers don't think the regulations are a major problem.

Ozina Smith, who lives on Lyle Street, has been holding a yard sale every year for the past 15 or 20 years. Last weekend, she was selling clothes, books and other items from her daughter and teenage granddaughter.

She noted that the crowd was smaller than she had seen on a Friday in past years, but she said there is not much of a difference.

She relies on loyal customers who recognize her ad in the paper and make sure to put her yard sale on their list.

"The same ones come back every year," Smith said.

She said she thinks the people complaining about the sign regulations are the ones who left their signs cluttering the intersections.

"The people brought it on themselves," she said.

Her yearly yard sale is doing just fine, so she isn't bothered. "I don't have any complaints," she said.