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]

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.