Gilroy’s considerable natural beauty and small-town charm are in
danger of being obliterated by an ugly proliferation of street
advertising.
Our community is the victim in the current game of one-upmanship
between business owners who constantly try to outdo each other in
their efforts to turn passersby into paying customers.
Gilroy’s considerable natural beauty and small-town charm are in danger of being obliterated by an ugly proliferation of street advertising.
Our community is the victim in the current game of one-upmanship between business owners who constantly try to outdo each other in their efforts to turn passersby into paying customers.
One business owner puts a seemingly innocuous A-frame sign on the sidewalk, and neighboring shopkeepers feel compelled to follow suit. Before you can say “capitalism,” the sidewalk is cluttered with visual pollution and physical barriers.
One business owner ties a balloon to his A-frame sign, and neighboring shopkeepers respond with entire bouquets of balloons.
One business owner posts a man on the corner waving a sign at motorists, and another hires a man wearing an ostrich costume to flag down motorists.
Besides the fact that all these signs are just plain ugly, the dancing varieties, at least, are also safety hazards. The A-frame signs make traversing sidewalks difficult for pedestrians, let alone those maneuvering strollers or wheelchairs. Floating balloons can obscure street signs and legal building signs. And, quite frankly, we’re surprised there hasn’t already been an accident caused by a distracted motorist trying to determine if he really just saw a man riding an ostrich.
When – not if – something like that happens, you can bet the good taxpayers of Gilroy, those possessed of the deepest pockets, will be the target of a lawsuit about the city’s sign ordinances.
Enough is now well past too much, and it’s time for Gilroyans and the City Council to say so.
Currently, signage laws are enforced on a complaint-only basis, so we’re calling on all Gilroyans to get whiny.
Call the city planning department at 846-0440 to complain about any sign that you think might be illegal. Not sure? Call and have the city check it out. If Gilroyans flood the city with sign complaints, our elected officials will not be able to get away with the same laissez-faire approach they’ve taken with cracked sidewalks when it comes to obnoxious signs.
Also, if the signs bother you, let the offending business owners know how you feel by speaking to them and, even more powerfully, by not patronizing stores with over-the-top street advertising.
If enough citizens call City Hall to complain, the city might learn that its sign ordinance needs some tweaking and the enforcement policy needs adjusting so we don’t have a parade of animals dancing on our street corners. The language of the ordinance needs to be rewritten to cover the new and creative ways business owners have come up with to draw the attention of pedestrians and drivers.
We understand that business owners need to advertise their presence. But it’s time to call a halt to the ever-escalating spiral of attention-grabbing gimmicks, and to value the beauty and safety of our community.
