Editorial - Political Signs Are Not the Real Issue

Political signs are cropping-up all over and not everyone is happy about it. Lawn signs supporting candidates are commonplace during election cycles cropping up sporadically throughout the town.  The signs typically fall into the standard 18”x 24” and are found on front lawns and in areas of high traffic. Signs are removed by the “sign police” when they obstruct a driver’s vision or they are on public land.  Often times signs are removed by supporters of the opposition.

This year there seems to be a proliferation of huge bill boards placed by the Creighton campaign in support of the three men, Creighton, Malloy and Puleo, who are campaigning together.  Using billboards for political campaigning is controversial. While the message on the sign is usually benign, the size often triggers a negative “visual pollution” reaction.

The Creighton campaign signs were no sooner pounded into the ground when almost immediately people began to react. The phrase “We can do better” is not only subjective, but is proving to be offensive to many in the town who are in an uproar over what they see as the planned paving over of the town for commercial development by Councilmen Creighton (now running for supervisor) and Malloy. To some, the word  “better” on the billboard is synonymous with disregarding the environment, zoning, and taxpayers. 

Creighton and Malloy have become the poster children for almost every controversial land use proposal in the town. They have  infuriated residents by what many call a mindset of “business right -homeowner wrong”.  While this may be an unfair depiction of Creighton and Malloy, there is a genuine stomach-turning fear amongst many that if this team takes out Vecchio, their home values will decrease, and there will be a degradation of both the environment and quality of life.

Recently, billboards and signs placed on 25A and Indian Head Road have been defaced with the word “crooks” spray painted on the signs. There is a lot of finger pointing as to who is responsible for the damage. Although people are reluctant to speak on the record a lot of blame is being attributed to Vecchio, his campaign and his supporters. Who knows whether the blame is justified?

What is incontrovertible is that Councilmen Creighton and Malloy have alienated a lot of people and have a lot of work to do explaining how “We can do better”. Who defaced the signs is not as important as why there are so many people saying they were thinking of doing it themselves.

Pat

Comments

[larry]

Pat, I agree with the premise of the graffity is not important,some childish prank perhaps. The publicity it recieved is serprising.Large signs should be placed only on private property with proper setbacks.