Graffiti vs. "sign spam"

[plumice.livejournal.com]

I read Somerville's graffiti policy and am wondering why they are not as concerned about "sign spam", which is uglier than some of the graffiti I've seen. See an image of sign spam here. The sign spam in Somerville typically is of the "CASH FAST FOR YOUR HOUSE" variety, with the occasional "Meet Singles Online."

The mayor ends the anti-graffiti article with "Thank you for joining us in making Somerville a more beautiful and safer place to live." I tried. Last summer I phoned 311 to report the seven locations where I saw these signs. Was passed around to various offices as they weren't sure who handles this problem. I asked for DPW, but the response there was also "I'm not sure."

I also tried to find out whether posting these signs on utility poles is illegal, and whether it was illegal for me to take them down myself. That's also unclear, but I did go ahead and cut down the ones I could reach. The signs are zip-tied onto utility pole typically about 8' from the ground.

There was no resolution with Somerville DPW, other than the person on the phone there stating it would probably take a work order to have DPW workers take the signs down.

Three months after this call, many of the signs were still up, so I started cutting them down myself, by carrying my branch-lopping tool in the car so I could reach the signs.

Some locations of sign spam last year were:
1. in front of Foodmaster on Beacon St.
2. in front of The Biscuit (Washington St. at Beacon St.)
3. corner of Beacon St. & Durham St.
4. on Somerville Ave. at Mossland St.
5. across from the Target store on Somerville Ave.
6. corner of Broadway & Dexter St.
7. in a residential area on Willow Ave., between Broadway & Kidder

Sign spam is appearing again--I saw three last week, but forgot all the locations. There is currently one on Elm St. near the corner of Russell St.

If you think it's ugly, too, please call Somerville. Maybe if they receive more calls they'll deal with it. It's hard for citizens to get at the signs--I had to stand on top of a large chunk of found concrete (from nearby construction) to cut down the one at Mossland St.--it wasn't easy, and yeah, I could've fallen and hurt myself.

Comments

[ron_newman]

I have mixed feelings about this. I think any posting on utility poles is illegal in Somerville -- but such posting is also useful to announce lost and found pets, yard sales, and live music shows at local clubs. I find all of these to be good things, provided that they are taken down after they are no longer valid.

Do you happen to know which realtor is advertising to buy or sell houses?

[plumice.livejournal.com]

No local realtors involved:

WE BUY HOUSES FOR CASH followed by a toll-free phone number.
GET OUT OF DEBT followed by a toll-free number.
MEET SINGLES ONLINE followed by a URL.

They're obviously mass-produced signs, likely posted in hundreds of towns.

It's true spam, unlike the very localized "lost pet" and "yard sale" signs affixed to poles at eye level, and typically removed after a short period of time. In fact, the forgotten yard sale signs are easily yanked down by concerned neighbors, while the sign spam I describe is placed too high for most people to reach, and they're zip-tied to the post, making it impossible to simply pull them down.

[m00n.livejournal.com]

I've seen these things too and, in fact, one time while I was out running with my girlfriend I passed by a guy who was stapling these things to a utility pole on Beacon Street and immediately yanked it off and threw it in the trash. This was a "Somerville Singles" sign of the plain-white with 800-number variety. He called me an asshole and immediately replaced the sign with a new one.

Is there anything we can do to report these guys when we see them in action? I.e. should I have taken down his license plate number?

[plumice.livejournal.com]

That's why I tried asking the city what the laws are regarding these. If they could confirm that it's "vandalism", then you could report the plate number to the police, and file a report that you witnessed the owner the the vehicle committing vandalism. Might as well step across the street and snap a photo of them posting the sign so you can turn in further evidence.

It would be similar to calling the police when you see someone applying graffiti to private property. The mayor's letter about graffiti (see link above) asks citizens to report it. The city spends our tax money cleaning up the graffiti, as long as the property owner allows them to do the work.

Based on the Graffiti FAQ (http://faqs.somervillema.intelligovsoftware.com/graffiti.aspx), the sign spam could be interpreted as graffiti. Wish someone from the city could confirm this.

[mattdm.livejournal.com]

I saw an interesting investigation into the company behind this on some web site a while ago. Can't find it now, though. The bottom line is, of course: they're really sleazy. Surprise!

[nathanjw]

This article: http://themetricsystem.rjmetrics.com/2008/11/06/single-lawn-signs-conquer-the-american-landscape/

[mattdm.livejournal.com]

I remember now -- it was the "Work at 'Home'" ones.

http://www.cockeyed.com/workfromhome/workfromhome_s.html

[ron_newman]

Thank you! I remembered reading that but sure couldn't remember where I read it.

[thetathx1138.livejournal.com]

Probably they're not sure because it depends on the pole the sign is attached to. Streetlights, that's their jurisdiction, no question. Utility poles, it might be up to the utility that maintains them.

[plumice.livejournal.com]

That means this is vandalism of the utility's property? If the pole is used by NStar, cable TV, and for local phone lines, whom do I call? That why I tried Somerville, thinking if it's not their problem, they would know who owns the poles and would contact them to remove the signage.

Maybe I'm silly for thinking the city would care about these ugly signs.

[plumice.livejournal.com]

And when posted on a large tree, like the sign on Willow Ave., isn't it city property? As far as I know, the city planted the trees that are between the sidewalk and the curb. Or is the homeowner responsible for removing illegal signs from the sidewalk tree in front of their home?

I joined this group because I heard that officials from town hall read this board. Maybe they do and clarification will be forthcoming.

[thetathx1138.livejournal.com]

Probably they're zip-tied specifically to avoid the vandalism charge. Also, I'd start with NStar.

[rmd.livejournal.com]

get yourself some priority mail labels, make some stickers, and 'decorate' the offending signs?

[plumice.livejournal.com]

And I'd probably be arrested for vandalism even if I attached big stickers promoting the beautiful scenery in Somerville.

Wanna be my spotter? Heh.

[lonelyholiday.livejournal.com]

Another reason to hate them - I once slipped on one of these signs and fell hard in the street. They're really slippery when on the ground, covered by a layer of slush.

I wasn't seriously injured, just completely bruised up. But it still makes me hold a grudge, and I guess I should also point out that if anyone does try to pull them down, be sure to dispose of them somewhere and not just leave them lying around.

[plumice.livejournal.com]

Of course, those of us who care enough to cut them down are not going to *litter* Somerville with them! Betcha the sign that tripped you up was dropped by the person who posts them. Probably he or she has stacks of them and wouldn't bother pick up the one that they dropped in the slush.

Not exactly the same thing, but related

[m00n.livejournal.com]

Is there anything that can be done about this monstrosity?

(http://gallery.unlitworld.com/v/sharing/DSC_1952.jpg.html?g2_imageViewsIndex=2)

Particularly with regards to the billboard on the left, which has been like that for several days now...

As a general rule I really hate billboards. Unlike almost any other form of advertising, billboards do not benefit me in any way (i.e. they do not pay for a service that I use), but I still have to look at them. If they were to be banned from the area completely I would not miss them--they give NOTHING back to the community.

Re: Not exactly the same thing, but related

[frederic.livejournal.com]

They might allow a place that sells darts and fishing tackle to stay open due to the extra income (or for the landlord not to raise their rent so they close). Unless of course a store like that (and others) gives nothing back to the community.

Otherwise, yes, I'd rather not have them in my town.

Re: Not exactly the same thing, but related

[m00n.livejournal.com]

I suppose by that same token you could justify bringing in brothels and drug dealing since it would require minimal effort and would likely help cover the rent without using too much space. It's just that as a society we've collectively decided that we'd be better off without these things in our midst. I feel like the billboards are even worse in a sense because I actually have to look at them every day and they pollute the skies with light, too.

Re: Not exactly the same thing, but related

[frederic.livejournal.com]

I am disappointed that you stopped short of invoking the Nazis.

Re: Not exactly the same thing, but related

[m00n.livejournal.com]

It's not smart to pull out all of the stops on the first try. ;-)

[plumice.livejournal.com]

ARGH! I agree, those are nasty.

No wonder they are not being maintained: they're owned by Clear Channel, the massive media company that is in need of a bailout these days: http://www.usdoj.gov/opa/pr/2008/February/08_at_115.html

[xuth.livejournal.com]

A big part of the problem trying to deal with this is that many of the entities that really profit on these signs insulate themselves from any legal ramifications of the posting of the sign spam yet incentivise(?) lots of people to post them by the thousand.
The only thing I've heard of that might deter people people from posting these signs in your area is to leave enough of them around in a defaced state. The reason why this might work is that typically the people physically posting the signs are charged (a very small cost) for each sign but are paid for every referal from their signs based on the phone number on any given sign. If they see that signs like this in an area consistently have the phone numbers removed (thus there would be no profit for the sign installer even if someone wanted the services and found it by other means) they might be encouraged to post them elsewhere rather than right here. Just removing them all suggests that this is a ripe area to infest.

causs.org

[ravingwanderer.livejournal.com]

There's actually an anti-street-sign-spam organization CAUSS (http://www.causs.org/), whose web site describes tactics that can be used to fight these sorts of signs. (Any resemblance of its name to that of another spam-fighting organization (http://www.cauce.org/) was probably intentional.) They include descriptions of relatively inexpensive and easy-to-make homemade tools for removing hard-to-reach signs, as well as tactics for deterring repeat offenders.