MAYOR'S MESSAGE

Craig A. Stough 8/19/04

"Signvania"

With the end of summer comes the start of the fall election season. In Sylvania, that means political signs, lots of them, turning Sylvania into "Signvania" until the first Tuesday in November.

Quality of life is one of the reasons people choose to live in Sylvania, and visual appearance of the community is part of that quality of life. Political signs do not add to our quality of life. On the other hand, political signs are an important part of free speech and competitive elections, and they cannot be and should not be legislated away.

The real problem is sign inflation and signs being put up earlier every year before each election. Political signs used to be 18" x 24" and not too intrusive. Competition resulted in the signs growing to 2' x 3' and in recent elections to 3' x 5' billboard signs. Political signs that large are expensive and time consuming to maintain, but they are still one of the most efficient means to get your name in front of the public. And that means more and bigger signs around our community.

In the interest of fairness to all the candidates and to our residents, each candidate known to be on the ballot in Sylvania and their political parties have been sent a letter outlining the ordinances in the City of Sylvania for political signs. We ask that the following guidelines be followed for the posting of political signs:

1. Signs posted on private property must have the permission of the property owner.

2. Signs may not be posted on public property or public right-of-way. Signs will not be considered on public right-of-way if: on streets with public sidewalks, signs are one foot behind the sidewalk on the building side; on streets without sidewalks, signs are a minimum of 15' from the pavement and behind utility lines.

Every year, signs get posted in the public right-of-way and city employees take them down. The candidate can retrieve removed signs at the City Vehicle Garage on Harroun Road or the Forestry Building on Erie Street. All candidates are treated equally. However, we cannot assign employees to full-time "sign patrol", and often the signs are removed as we receive complaints or the offense becomes noticeable and objectionable.

Like so much of our election process, political signs are time consuming. Democracy is a messy business, but it is the best system yet conceived in the world. I call upon all candidate campaign committees to be cognizant of the rules. And I ask all of our Sylvania citizens to be patient and to enjoy participating in the upcoming election year here in "Signvania".