The corner convenience store might not be the first thing that springs to mind when it comes to cleaning up neighborhood blight.

But in poorer parts of Dallas, such shops are frequently plastered front to back with mini-billboards advertising everything from cigarettes to Frito pie.

To officials at Dallas City Hall, those signs advertise something else, too – the poverty of surrounding neighborhoods.

It drew little notice, but last week, the City Council enacted restrictions that target those signs, hoping to clean up the way convenience stores and other mom-and-pop shops look in neighborhoods around the city.

The ordinance limits how much of a building’s facade and windows can be covered with signs.

Specifically, windows and glass doors, many of which are completely covered today, must be 80 percent clear so patrons can see in and out of the store. And outside walls and facades that have served as little more than street-level billboards must have no more than 25 percent of their surface covered with signs.

Store owners rarely, if ever, pay for the signs that cover their stores.

They are provided by corporations such as Coca-Cola and Dr Pepper, who advertise their brands on the top half of a sign and whatever the store owner wants on the bottom half.

In part because they come at no cost to store owners, the signs proliferate.

Police have long expressed concern that they can’t see inside some of the businesses.

According to the ordinance, windows don’t have to be cleared for a year. After the grace period is up, code officers will be able to issue tickets for $200 to $2,000 for each violation.

The City Council’s new rules governing signs for Dallas business: