33 Replies to "Sign sagas"

• The House September 4, 2007 (10:31 pm)

  #1 sucks. I hope the woman is OK.

  #2 – I’ve got to disagree with this one. I know that it’s illegal and could be considered the same as graffiti, but those banners are something that make West Seattle, well….West Seattle. They bring a sense of community and many people actually look forward to seeing them. I’m sure that the individual that lives nearby is tired of having to clean up after people that don’t remove strings, paper, etc and potentially must deal with some noise but I would think that there would be other ways to deal with the issue besides making it your life mission to destroy this tradition. If I’m alone on this let me know, but I think they’re part of WS flair.

• Eric September 4, 2007 (10:35 pm)

  Interestingly enough, there is a sign saying that posting signs on the overpass is illegal on the west side of the overpass, but not the east. Certainly, if it’s illegal, it needs to be better posted.

• WSB September 4, 2007 (10:38 pm)

  To the second point, the banner-hanging reader also mentioned that in her last note to us … while up there trying to be conscientious with their one banner for an excellent cause, she and her husband and their kids also cleaned up all the tape and fasteners and trash they found on the overpass. Re: the flair, it’s even mentioned on the publicity site for High Point developers:
  http://thehighpoint.com/quirky.html

• Jim September 4, 2007 (10:44 pm)

  As I recall, the city does have a policy and procedure for hanging banners from the walkway. It requires a permit, steel cable, pad locks and a $1,000,000 insurance rider. That still never stopped people from ripping them down. Of course your average banner hanger, doesn’t carry million dollar personal liability insurance either.

• Frank September 4, 2007 (11:04 pm)

  I’d rather see responsable people hang banners on the overpass that will clean up after themselves (like it appears this lady was) than the people who place candidate signs all up and down the freeway then leave them up after the election.

• Jan September 4, 2007 (11:25 pm)

  House…I agree totally with you, with a caveat. People have to take personal responsibility and not just leave them there. They need to clean up after themselves. It’s been a tradition as long as I’ve been in WS (32 years)…and a shame that someone has appointed themselves the overpass police.

  Also…I hate candidate signs on public property. I feel that there should be a law that a candidate has to receive written permission to post them, and that the law would state that every sign left up 2 days post-election would be taken down and the candidate fined 100 bucks for each one. It’s litter , as far as I’m concerned …just my opinion :)

• chas redmond September 4, 2007 (11:46 pm)

  It’s actually an SDOT policy about not distracting drivers going under the overpass. Makes sense. There’s also city rules about removing signs after elections and taking the ones on city utility poles down. The laws exist, most of them are ignored – such is the case with the no banners on overpass law. There’s got to be some give-and-take in a society for things to work. I suspect the person adamantly removing the signs will soon tire. Plus, we’re moving into the quiet time of the year for banners anyway – no more street festivals, no more graduations, etc.

  Some things are just allowed. In DC, for instance, the Roosevelt Memorial Bridge which carries Route 50 across the Potomac from Arlington to DC is nicely painted all the time. It’s a steel arch low bridge since the Potomac isn’t navigable above Roosevelt Island. But, all the time there’s allowed to be these two somewhat gritty graffiti marks, on the DC-side support, which say GU and GWU, the two teams who crew up and down the river. Yes, the writing is scratchy. Yes, the writing is a piece of graffiti on an otherwise attractive low steel arch bridge painted light blue. But, it’s a piece of local tradition.

  Local tradition here has banners hanging from the Fauntleroy causeway overpass and so it shall continue to be.

• Ken Davis September 5, 2007 (6:52 am)

  Also note: This may be an expansion of the razor knife sign vigilante that seems to walk Delridge way and 35th cutting up signs of all sorts.

  Too bad they are more interested in cutting up the signs rather than picking up the pieces.

• MsBette September 5, 2007 (10:18 am)

  If there is a SDOT law about not distracting drivers going under the overpass, how about the distraction that campaigners cause by waving wildly at passing cars? It has gotten so crazy I have thought about changing my vote just because of it. Does this bother anyone else?

• Delivery Dude September 5, 2007 (10:31 am)

  I hope that lady gets a good attorney and sues the hell out of Target for injuries sustained (physical and/or emotional).

• add September 5, 2007 (10:40 am)

  I’m the one with Saga #2 – and I have to say that the vigilant neighbors seem to be more concerned about proving some point than with mess/trash. We went back over there this morning to see if maybe the banner was tossed in the bushes or something. No banner, but all of the snipped plastic ties we used to secure it were strewn over the walkway. Hrrrmph!

  If anyone knows anything about this, we would really like to get the banner back. It was quite expensive (professionally done) and was privately purchased as a donation to the organization. We just got it a few days ago and were hoping to be able to use it at many venues over several years.

  I’m disappointed in our WS neigbhors who ignored our polite note and willingness to remove the banner early if needed/desired.

• Jeff September 5, 2007 (5:05 pm)

  As someone who uses the overpass for its intended purpose from time to time I find it annoying when on my bike to have to navigate around neglected signs. A few windy evenings of having to deal with banners blowing completely across the overpass are enough for me.

  Advertising’s advertising. If someone wants to tear down another person’s defilement of the common areas, that’s fine with me. The same goes for those political signs and the t-shirts on that running children sculpture nearby.

• Tim September 5, 2007 (5:14 pm)

  I agree with Jeff about having to negotiate neglected signs. Let’s be realistic here, the vast majority of sign-hangers are not now — nor will they ever be — responsible about it. Which raises the most important issue that no one is mentioning: all it takes is ONE poorly attached sign to fly off onto someone’s windshield and cause a lot of destruction and quite possible casualties. Tradition is one thing, but how about safety? Is tradition really THAT important?

• MargL September 5, 2007 (5:56 pm)

  Sadly there is a ton of debris collecting in the brush next to the eastbound lanes just past the overpass including something that looks suspiciously like the Happy Birthday sign from this post
  https://westseattleblog.com/blog/?p=2288

  Does SDOT do the cleanup? I don’t think it could be done by neighborhood volunteer cleanup crews without risk to life and limb.

• A September 5, 2007 (7:55 pm)

  I’m all for the signs. They make West Seattle different. I like when people decorate the little people too. Unfortunately, I live in the Delridge neighborhood now and rarely drive under the overpass. My husband hung a sign for my 30th birthday and guess what?? It’s now hanging in our garage – 4 years later. For those that don’t like it – get over it!

• Westie September 5, 2007 (8:09 pm)

  Apparently some of the neighbors that live on the street by the bridge have seen the neighbor on the corner of Andover and Fauntleroy in the new construction house cut the signs and banners down. They had been throwing them down in the bushes under the bridge, but lately they seem to be putting them in their trash can. They are confronting people as they hang their signs and have even called the police on a couple that was using their sidewalk to prep the sign. Obviously these people are not community oriented. I say let the bridge be a community bulletin board!

• Tom September 5, 2007 (8:30 pm)

  As a child (4th grade?) in Baltimore I was offended by the sheer volume of garbage left out in the streets after elections at my elementary school across from my house. I set up a trash can and armed myself with a sign that asked: “How Can You Trust Politicians Who Pollute Our Neighborhood With Their Pamphlets?” Lol! Boy did that p1$$ off the electioneers.

  Good times…

• Jan September 5, 2007 (8:45 pm)

  Tom..you were right on…maybe we should be doing that again :)

• CH September 5, 2007 (10:57 pm)

  it’s probably the same wretch that tore down our posters at the Junction, even while we were there putting them up and promising that we’d take them down after the concert (which was for a charitable cause but that didn’t make a difference to her).

• add September 6, 2007 (8:10 am)

  The saga continues – we put a small note up by the signs entering the overpass on the west side politely asking whoever took down the banner to please return it – that we would come and pick it up, reminding that it was brand-new, expensive and a pretty big investment for a small WS non-profit org. Apparently that was also promptly taken down.

• Lucky Lou September 7, 2007 (5:28 pm)

  I’m on both sides of this issue.

  The signs are hideous, distracting, and not well looked after.

  On the other hand, we as Americans have a right to free speech and need the unfettered ability to post signs in public spaces.

  The problem here is it is against the freaking law, so don’t put up the stinking signs.

  To the poster named “add” – it doesn’t matter if you put up your little notes, or how much it cost you to make the signs – you knew it was illegal so you deserve to lose your dumb sign.

  If anyone can post signs on the bridge, then what’s to stop Microsoft from putting up a huge banner?

  If it’s just a free posting place, then people also have the right to tear down whatever they want.

  Ultimately there’s too much chaos and too much garbage, so I guess I agree with the law making posting signs here illegal.

• LIFE LONG WEST SEATTLE RES September 8, 2007 (11:25 am)

  I AGREE WITH LUCKY LOU, AND I FEEL SOMEWHAT SORRY FOR THE PEOPLE THAT LIVE IN VIEWING DISTANCE OF THE OVERPASS.
  IF I HAD TO LOOK AT ALL THAT JUNK ALL THE TIME IT WOULD DRIVE ME CRAZY. THE LAW IS THE LAW. THE SIGNS ARE A DISTRACTION FOR MOTORISTS…AND THE BANNERS ARE A SAFETY HAZARD. THAT IS WHY IT IS ILLEGAL TO POST SIGNS ON THE BRIDGE.
  I AM ALL FOR FREE SPEACH, IF IT DOES NOT ENDANGER LIVES.
  THE PEDESTRIAN OVERPASS WAS NOT CREATED AS A VEHICLE TO POST PERSONAL WISHES OR REQUESTS, BUT AS A PEDESTRIAN OVERPASS. I THINK THE ARGUEMENT THAT IT IS TRADITION IS
  FEEBLE MINDED…. I AM SURE POSTERS WOULD HAVE DIFFERENT VIEWPOINT IF THEY WERE CALLED INTO COURT BECAUSE A SIGN THEY POSTED DISTRACTED A DRIVER AND CONTRIBUTED TO AN ACCIDENT…LAWSUITS HAVE A WAY OF MAKING PEOPLE SEE THE LIGHT. HEY IF THE RESIDENTS OF THE NEIGHBORHOOD
  SURROUNDING THE BRIDGE HAVE HAD ENOUGH, I SUPPORT THEM 100% THEY LIVE THERE YOU DON’T. THE LAW IS THE LAW.
  NOT ABOVE OR BELOW ANY OF US, JUST RESPECT IT.

  LIFE LONG WEST SEATTLE RESIDENT

  I’m on both sides of this issue.
  The signs are hideous, distracting, and not well looked after.
  On the other hand, we as Americans have a right to free speech and need the unfettered ability to post signs in public spaces.
  The problem here is it is against the freaking law, so don’t put up the stinking signs.
  To the poster named “add” – it doesn’t matter if you put up your little notes, or how much it cost you to make the signs – you knew it was illegal so you deserve to lose your dumb sign.
  If anyone can post signs on the bridge, then what’s to stop Microsoft from putting up a huge banner?
  If it’s just a free posting place, then people also have the right to tear down whatever they want.
  Ultimately there’s too much chaos and too much garbage, so I guess I agree with the law making posting signs here illegal.
  Comment by Lucky Lou — September 7, 07 5:28 pm #

• For a better West Seattle September 8, 2007 (1:07 pm)

  There are clearly marked signs listing that that posting signs on the bridge is illegal and the Seattle Municipal code listing the specific code that states that it is illegal to post signs or banners on he bridge. As a homeowner in west Seattle I am dismayed that people feel it is their personal right to ignore the law and post signs when they know it illegal to do so, as if they are above municipal codes. As a homeowner I am embarrassed at the fact my friends from other parts of the city and country view the entrance to my home as a kind of shantytown and somewhat very unsophisticated to allow such postings. All this only serves in the end to tagging and graffiti art. I have worked multiple jobs to secure my home and would appreciate a cooperative effort to stop banners being place on the bridge or people campaigning for Political office waving signs on the overpass as I drive to and from work…it just makes me ANGRY. The trash, they hazard it presents to drivers is enough to make traffic stop dead in its tracks. I want to see a clean West Seattle free of Signs wishing people I do not know happy birthday, anniversary and or graduation…this is not their place…I pay my taxes for the road and highway improvements not for my hard earned money to be spent to be used for the removal of signs that are posted illegally…and I might add something I do not want to see. If people want to post signs I suggest the do so in the privacy of their own yard…I do not want to see them as I commute and will support any cause to have all this riff raff stopped.

  For a better West Seattle

• stop the signs west seattle September 8, 2007 (1:57 pm)

  Enough with the signs on the west Seattle overpass.

  They are a traffic hazard and devalue the values of our property…. that would want to buy a house in an area that promotes personal agendas and activities. My home is my biggest asset. The posters and banners placed on the west Seattle overpass are a huge negative to my marketing my house and surely detract from its sale.

  Please note they are illegal and fines for posters will start being imposed (Thank God)

  Stop the signs west Seattle

• Scott September 19, 2007 (9:33 pm)

  I am amazed the vitriol surrounding this little tradition. Obviously this has touched a nerve on both sides, but it boils down to a matter of respect (or lack thereof).

  Sure, if someone puts up some banner to announce a personal event, they’re disregarding the law and taking the associated risk. If they don’t bother to maintain or remove the sign after its time, then shame on them.

  On the other hand, taking on some vigilante role of removing signs immediately seems disrespectful of the community and tradition. If you’re really concerned about the mess, then either notify the authorities or work to maintain the tradition without destroying it.

  If someone made the decision to move into this area knowing the circumstances of the area, then they should be willing to live with their decision and leave what few unique traditions remain. I think we all have more pressing things to worry about these days.

• Radley September 19, 2007 (9:45 pm)

  “For a better West Seattle” & “Stop the Signs West Seattle”

  Thanks so much for lobbying to make WS an oh so tacitful but homogenous suburb. Seriously, if you wanted a posh nieghborhood with no personality, there are numerous subdivisions on the east side that could easily have fit the bill.

  In an ode to the “Keep Austin Wierd” movement, I say that the signs are a part of what makes WS unquie and charming, and have been here far longer than the residents trying so hard to tear them down.

  To quote my gradfather, “If you don’t like the smell, don’t buy the house next to the dairy.”

• Tish September 20, 2007 (2:06 am)

  I ditto Radley and Scott’s comments. The signs are what make West Seattle unique and, to the best of my knowledge, have causd no drivers harm whatsoever.

• JK September 20, 2007 (6:31 am)

  Funny, those decorated statues and signs are one of the charming reasons I moved to west seattle so many years ago… My friends often comment on how charming our little community is and those signs and decorated statues are part of it. I pay taxes too. I work hard to keep my house nice and I take pride in my neighborhood. That entrance is one of the things I take pride in.

• Mike September 20, 2007 (10:41 am)

  I agree, the signs and dudes with tshirts are great. They are the first thing you see upon entering West Seattle and they tell people that this community has a sense of fun. Things like this give West Seattle a sense of community. I think some are missing the point that this character actually adds to house values.

• Lisa September 20, 2007 (4:39 pm)

  As a neighbor living in the blocks close to the pedestrian over pass I must admit the signs are illegal and a problem. The signs/banners are never promptly removed by their owners, and we as a neighborhood have had work parties to rid the bridge of countless yards of duct tape, wire, zip ties, yarn, rope and other debris. We fill bags of debris. We all take pride in our neighborhood and have better things to do on our off days then cleaning the pedestrian over pass. Please think before you put up a sign.

• Bruce September 22, 2007 (4:17 pm)

  I agree with lisa. I live in the block north of
  the overpass. I can’t stand the signs. To previous
  posters yes there have been accidents… tradition aside it is against the law.

  times change….try affording a condo on alki
  now.

• dave September 22, 2007 (8:56 pm)

  I’m guessing that the Overpass Commentary Destroyer (OCD) person is probably just thankful that the S.L.U.T. isn’t coming to West Seattle. They’d be overwhelmed by H.O.S (Highway Overpass Security).

  :)

• mike September 23, 2007 (6:43 pm)

  My family uses the overpass all the time. We are always amazed that people put signs up but never take them down. Some kid named Molly birthday lasted for 2 weeks. Guess it is also a goodplace to buy drugs.

  Glad to see it being cleaned up.

  Mike

Sorry, comment time is over.