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

[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.