ORIGINAL 1:35 PM REPORT: First it was posted in the WSB Forums – then a neighbor/passer-by e-mailed a photo – but we weren’t going to believe it till we saw it for ourselves. Which we have since done. Yes, we know these signs have been hacked/vandalized/tampered with elsewhere in the country, but this is the first one we’ve heard of – at least in recent years – in West Seattle. Bart Simpson‘s trademark phrase is now displayed on the illuminated signboard just west of 18th SW on eastbound Dawson – BIG safety hazard because this is the warning sign that is inbetween a couple of tricky curves in the detour zone for the 16th SW road-rebuilding work north of South Seattle Community College. As we noted in the Forum, 206-386-1218 is the 24-hour city dispatch center for road problems; we didn’t see a crew when we were there, but will check back later. We’ll also be checking with SDOT to see why the sign wasn’t hackproofed.
6:09 PM UPDATE: We had sent a request for comment to the SDOT communications team, just in case they were monitoring e-mail; though we haven’t heard directly from any of them, we did just receive this e-mail from SDOT’s Susan Byers:
I am the SDOT (project manager) for the paving project on 16th Avenue SW. The message has been changed back to the original message.
7:29 PM UPDATE: Confirmed – here are our photos of the three-part message it’s back to displaying:
And we’ve also heard back from Rick Sheridan, who leads SDOT’s communications team:
The signs’ controllers can be secured but those locks can be cut or broken. We have taken measures to prevent further access.
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