Middlesex Marquee (again)

[jd-science.livejournal.com]

I just sent the following to the Middlesex Bank. I also e-mailed Rebekah about it. Does anyone else ever notice this trend on the marquee but me? It's annoying and depressing.


Hello-

I sent a comment on June 27, 2006 about the scrolling marquee outside your bank. I have not yet heard a response.

This is what I sent you then:

"I live in the Davis Square area and wanted to express my unhappiness with the new scrolling marquee above your bank. This weekend I was sitting in the square with some friends, and within five minutes we saw the words "death" and "kill" repeated several times. This does not seem appropriate at all for large, bright broadcasting in the middle of Davis Square.

I realize that the marquee was just scrolling news headlines, but I don't believe that news headlines - particularly those types of headlines - are really that important to building a truly informed public and in fact contribute to a destructive social atmosphere. If the marquee must be there (which I don't think it great, but I understand you've probably put a lot of money into it), I'd prefer it just to scroll the time, temperature, and maybe sports scores. And please nothing about death, killing, children being bombed, and so forth. We can get enough of that everywhere else."

Today, August 3, I was eating lunch in the square at around 1 pm, and one right after the other, I saw the following headlines scroll across, multiple times:

Iranian Woman Awaits Death By Stoning
New Surgical Procedure for Incontinence
Woman Afraid of Height Dies in Plane Crash
Israeli Bombing Kills 7
Welcome to Davis Square

There was another headline after the stoning that had something to do with death, but I don't exactly remember what it said.

This hardly seems appropriate to be displayed in large orange letters in the middle of Davis Square. Death, destruction, ridiculousness, and hey! Welcome to Davis!

I went into the bank to ask who to talk to about my issues with the sign, and the tellers told me Mr. Smoliss (?) was in charge. I asked if I could talk to him, and they said, “Well, his office is upstairs.” I wasn’t sure if I was supposed to just walk up and there and knock on the door, so I am writing via the official channel on your website.

At the recent Davis Square Task Force meeting, it was noted that the sign is only allowed, by law, to display the time, temperature, and public service announcements. The president also said he wanted the sign to promote community events and activities.

(for notes, see http://community.livejournal.com/davis_square/565301.html)

It hardly seems that what I saw today is in line with any of this. In addition, after all these useless, dramatic headlines were several about mergers and business acquisitions, also not of local community interest.

I would appreciate a response from you about this problem.

Comments

[komos.livejournal.com]

Thank the gods that we left-leaning suburbanites never demand censorsh....

Oh. Never mind.

[xuth.livejournal.com]

Hmm, I have trouble calling his request censorship. jd_science is merely making a request which the bank can pay attention to or not. OTOH, the fact that that bank is limited in what it can put on the marquee by law, quite definitely is censorship.

[two-stabs.livejournal.com]

Good God, thank you. Aren't there enough places to bury your head in the sand in West Somerville?

[jd-science.livejournal.com]

I actually think that you, komos, have a good point about censorship. it’s funny, i was wondering why i felt like a grumpy old-timer as I was writing those comments to the bank. I guess it’s because I’m becoming the cranky neighborhood watchdog / busybody (i am notorious for calling The Authorities when i notice things out of whack in the neighborhood, e.g. a leaking transformer, strong smells of gas, beeping smoke alarms).

Regarding claims of censorship, though, the term obviously can be and is interpreted widely. i was just thinking the other day about the relationships between personal opinion, public opinion, morals, and laws. They all blend into and inform each other in such a messy and interesting way. When does a complaint about something become a demand for censorship? How strongly does each party need to feel in order for a situation to change from discussion to disagreement to conflict to oppression?

I’d like to think we’re still in stage 1. Taking into consideration what everyone has written, I think now that my objection is not, at its heart, to the content of the sign, though I can see how my written complaint(s) lead to that conclusion. Your comments have made me realize that to be more clear about my position, I should state what it is that I would like to have happen.

I would like to talk to someone from the bank about why the sign says what it does. Is it just an automatic AP-type feed that whoever's in charge of the content threw on there just because they wanted something that was automatically updated? Does it reflect any personal filtering or bias? If so, what is the relationship between the filter and the perceived needs of the community? Does the filter take into consideration the fact that anything displayed is very big, very bright, and very orange?

I want to know that someone has thought about this, and I want to know what it was that person was thinking. The emotional motivation behind my comments, then, was something like, “Do you even know what you’re doing? If not, please think about it. I really think this is a bad idea. Here’s why. Taking that into consideration, do you still really think this is a good idea?” (An added emotional motivation for the second note to them was that I was annoyed that no one ever responded to me).

Therefore, what I really want is not censorship, but to know 1) if someone is really insisting for a thought-out reason that these headlines should be broadcast, and 2) if someone is, what that reason may be. If it turns out that this person truly believes that these headlines are useful, then we’ll have a slightly different discussion on our hands.

In that case, I believe that the final solution lies in zoning laws. As xuth mentioned, good zoning laws don’t restrict content of expression, but rather the intrusiveness of the medium by which one expresses oneself. Since the relevant Somerville law is backwards, the final solution probably doesn’t lie in *our* zoning law. But the reasoning behind such laws still stands. So while I do personally object to the content of the messages, I’d say the validity of my complaint as more than just being a pushy grump lies in the intrusiveness of the sign. With great (illuminatory) power comes great responsibility, and all that...

[ayelle.livejournal.com]

It's really not censorship to complain about a bank marquee. Censorship involves an authority preventing another party from expressing/communicating/publishing something. [Unknown site tag] is making a complaint. He has no power to force them to change their sign. By definition, not censorship (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Censorship). If it's censorship to express an opinion that you dislike or disagree with someone else's form of communication, one could probably argue that your comment is, too, because you're suggesting that he shouldn't have sent the letter. But of course you have no power to prevent him from doing so, any more than he has the power to force the bank to take down the sign.

[ron_newman]

They turned it on again? I haven't seen it on since that meeting, except for an hour or two on ArtBeat Saturday. Have they reduced its brightness at all?

[mattdm [typekey.com] (from livejournal.com)]

They don't seem to have.

[ariwriter.livejournal.com]

Walking in Davis last night, I saw this marquee sign for the first time. It's definitely an odd color. I suggest the bank's marquee people take a look at Times Square to get an idea of how marquees and neon really work together to create harmony.

[ellf.livejournal.com]

Ugh. I don't really care what they project (given that whole First Amendment thing), but did it have to be bright fucking orange?

[kglue.livejournal.com]

I would only care about what they projected if all the news headlines were slanted in one political direction or the other, or if the headlines all tried to push some agenda.

As for war, death, and killing headlines, well, unfortunately things like that happen. And I think it surely constitutes being newsy. But I guess it's all subject to personal taste. Some people may find a headline like, "Woman Afraid of Height Dies in Plane Crash" as funny or ironic, but I think it's rather frivilous and kind of mean spirited.

I do think it would be nice if it had more community events scrolling across.

[hauntmeister.livejournal.com]

This is a rather long posting. Could you put most of it in an lj-cut, please?

[xuth.livejournal.com]

Can someone please explain to me why there are people who will go around and ask people to put a posting that is entirely text and entirely safe for work behind an lj cut? Why are people fanatical about this? I don't see the big deal.

[xjustquietx.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I understand about not wanting to be reminded of the depressing state of the world during lunch. When I sit down to eat in my office, I only read the Sidekick for that very reason. It is a time to relax, turn off my brain, and see what Red and Rover are up to. The whole rest of the day I hear about and discuss the world around me.

However, it's my choice. The Boston Globe is still going to print the news and the newspaper is going to sit on my lunchtable. I just don't look at it. In the end, I think filtering out the news so it's only sunny and wonderful is a bad idea. You have a right to voice your opinion, but if the sign isn't changing, then you also have the right to turn your head.

There's a whole George Carlin rant about this kind of thing... someone want to paraphrase?

[ron_newman]

Middlesex is a local bank, so it would make sense to for their sign to stick to news about the immediate local area.

[brianbeck.livejournal.com]

I completely agree. It is horrible. We don't want to look at it. It serves no purpose. It is ugly. Please Middlesex Federal, turn it off.

[bostonartist.livejournal.com]

I was in Davis a few nights ago around 10 P.M. The marquee was scrolling stupid world news headlines as described. What a waste of money and electricity! That thing serves absolutely NO purpose!

[kalessin.livejournal.com]

It makes you look at the bank. Marketing, ya know.

Probably the only way to convince them to shut it off (and get rid of it) is to get them to realize enough people consider it ugly and rude and would never patronize a business that would try to use such a sign to attract customers.

[csbermack.livejournal.com]

I agree! After all, nothing is as important to an informed citizenry as sports scores.

Really, displaying horrible words like DEATH and KILL and BOMBING and WAR is unconscionable. How can they live with themselves, talking about such horrible, awful things? I know I never want to see those words! They damage my calm.

Besides, children sometimes walk through Davis. And children can read! I don't want to be the one explaining to some weeping innocent little angel why there are dozens of dead children in Qana. No! How am I even going to explain what Qana is? Much less what a massacre is?

It's better if our public spaces are left as peaceful, loving environments where the horrors of the world are walled out. It's much better for us to focus on the Red Sox. The only blood we should ever be thinking about in Davis Square is the blood on Schilling's ankle.

[ron_newman]

There are plenty of places I can get that kind of news if I want it. However, there are only a few places to get news about the local area -- the Somerville Journal, the Somerville News, this LJ community, and various bulletin boards in local businesses. If the bank wants to make a positive contribution to Davis Square, they should concentrate on local news and events.

[hauntmeister.livejournal.com]

Thanks for editing the posting to use an lj-cut!

City ordinance restricting content of flashing signs

[ron_newman]

The relevant law is Article 12 of the city zoning ordinance, specifically this section:

Section 12.4. Signs in Nonresidential Districts.

12.4.2. Lighting.

Signs shall be lighted only by any continuous light, except that a warning sign or a sign illuminated to show time and temperature, or some other public service message, may have intermittent illumination. Signs shall remain stationary.

[jbsegal.livejournal.com]

If you have the time, I'd follow this up with a visit to the appropriate person's office.

As well, I'd agree that all who don't like the sign should let them know. If there are any who DO, please, speak up too. As the only person to speak FOR Mr. Crepe at the meeting at the Someday, I know how hard it can be to come out against the popular feeling, but everyone should make themseleves heard.

[jbsegal.livejournal.com]

(Ok, more accurately, the only person to speak out AGAINST the Someday (as I've experienced it)...)

[artic-monkeys.livejournal.com]

How does the sign work? does someone type all this stuff in or do they have to subscribe to certain feeds?

UPI headlines?

[ron_newman]

As I passed by the sign tonight, it displayed the surreal headline "Creation of a physics nozzle hailed".

That's a weird enough sentence that I typed it into the search bar of Google News. It found this UPI story with that exact headline.

(By the way, did you know that UPI is now owned by the Moonies?)

Re: UPI headlines?

[mihmo.livejournal.com]

Same thing with the Tom Cruise baby / Penelope Cruz headline I saw tonight:

http://www.upi.com/NewsTrack/view.php?StoryID=20060804-075938-2651r

Cambridge's sign ordinance

[ron_newman]

For comparison, here's the Cambridge sign ordinance. The relevant section:

7.15 General Limitations for All Signs Permitted in the City of Cambridge

B. ... Flashing or intermittent light creating flashing, moving, changing or animated graphics is
prohibited, except that a warning sign, a device intended to tell the time and temperature, or official traffic and directional signs may have intermittent illumination.

This ordinance was adopted in 1991. For the most part, it allowed existing "non-conforming" signs to remain in place. It did require removal of four categories of existing signs (see section 7.18.1), but only after a four-year grace period.

The Out-of-Town News stand in Harvard Square used to have an electronic news ticker, which was appropriate given the kind of business it was. The sign came down some time in the early 1980s, when the stand moved around due to construction of the Red Line Extension. I recall that Cambridge Savings Bank later tried to put up a similar sign, but it didn't last long. Clearly such a sign could not be erected today in Cambridge.

weather

[ron_newman]

Wherever they are getting their weather from, could use some work. An hour ago, it displayed "HeatIdx -999 F".

[antimony.livejournal.com]

Perhaps a complaint should be lodged with the Somerville Chamber of Commerce or whatever the local equivalent is.

In the town I grew up, I recall a Benetton clothing store being built, and painted to match the corporate shade of green. Enough people complained that the CoC required them to change it. They did. The store is still slightly-muted Benetton green, although it's housed a Christian Science Reading Room for a decade or so now.

No-one is advocating censorship -- they're advocating good taste and promotion of the Square as a pleasant place to do business. Bright neon proclaiming news, whether it is horrific, pleasant, or anywhere in between, is generally not considered tasteful in most locations. Also, if they're just pulling off the AP wire, it's not very informative, either.

reply from middlesex

[jd-science.livejournal.com]

here is the fairly uninteresting response i got from the bank today.

--
Several years ago a decision was made to promote the image and vibrancy
of Davis Square. After researching several alternatives it was decided to
emulate the signage installed at the University of Connecticut School
of Business in Hartford, CT. Proper applications were submitted to the
City of Somerville and approved.

As the signage is in its infancy we are endeavoring to obtain more local news and community activity notices which should encompass most of the
messaging.

Thank you.
Middlesex Federal Savings, F.A.
--

Ho-hum. They want Davis to have the feel of a Business School in Hartford. Whoopee.

I guess, then, the productive alternative is to submit things that I would actually want to see up there. Maybe they should scroll a feed from the davis square livejournal.

I'll write again and ask about the procedure for submitting "local news and community activity notices."

Re: reply from middlesex

[ron_newman]

My main problem with the sign is still its brightness, not its message. I should not be able to see it from a street corner in Cambridge (Mass. Ave. and Day Street).

[mihmo.livejournal.com]

Let's all go into the bank outfitted with nifty gadgets like this:

LED Clip (http://www.thinkgeek.com/gadgets/lights/768c/)
LED Belt Buckle (http://www.thinkgeek.com/gadgets/electronic/7c60/)
LED Name Badge (http://www.thinkgeek.com/gadgets/electronic/7c54/)

Of course, they should have obnoxious messages scrolling on them - like what I saw tonight: "Ex-girlfriend Cruz saw Cruise's child." Um. What? And I care?

And of course, they should be Really Very Bright. Too bad none of those models are orange.

Also, there are quite a few 'local' RSS feeds available. Maybe we can suggest them (I don't know how their LED thing works but I'm assuming an RSS-based solution could be worked out somehow?)

- http://thephoenix.com/RSS/
- http://news.bostonherald.com/rss.xml
- http://somervillenews.typepad.com/the_somerville_news/rss
- http://www.boston.com/tools/rss/news/
- http://www.weeklydig.com/rss/

Would be nice if the City of Somerville website could be coaxed into producing an RSS feed for their news.

My idea for a new message

[azores.livejournal.com]

"Public Flogging at 3pm on Saturday in Davis Square of the Bank Idiot Who Masterminded This Great Eyesore of a Sign Idea."

Re: My idea for a new message

[azores.livejournal.com]

That was actually badly worded, but ironically does match the typical syntax of the messages I see on that board.