Readers: Posted Handbills Are A Sign Of Life
More than half the readers that took the poll last week felt posted handbills are a sign of life, here are the results:
Q: Posted Handbills are:
- A sign of life 56 [56.57%]
- Not as bad as graffiti but not positive 32 [32.32%]
- As bad as graffiti 9 [9.09%]
- Other: 2 [2.02%]
- Unsure/No Opinion 0 [0%]
The two other answers were:
- Worse than graffiti
- As long as they stick to plywood and don’t intrude onto occupied property
Really, worse than graffiti? I agree with the majority, posted handbills are a positive element that tell me the city is alive, events are taking place and being communicated to pedestrians on the sidewalks.
– Steve Patterson
So, let’s slap some on your loft building and add “some life” to your block . . . you good with that? Or, are they only “a sign of life” when they’re on someone else’s property?
Show me a completed loft building with a boarded up storefront and I’ll find some handbills to liven it up.
The problem is that some people don’t know limits. You (and many others) would limit yourself to boarded-up storefronts, lampposts and signal boxes, but there are always a few idioits / vandals who will “express themselves” some place that’s occupied and/or highly inappropriate, the most recent example I can think of was the graffiti at the Tower Grove Reservoir attached to the Occupy Summit. Since the law apparently isn’t capable of distinguishing between “appropriate” and “inappropriate” locations (and who gets to decide), the law remains that this is vandalism, especially if you lack the property owner’s expilict permission.
Whose job should it be to eventually remove these handbills, including the residual adhesive, when they’re no longer current or relevant? The building owner? The “life giver” responsible for the original posting? Drive through Silverlake in the LA area; drive along 8-mile Road in Detroit; drive around Prichard in Mobile; ride the train between NJ and NYC; drive through East St Louis; drive along MLK in most American cities. I think you’ll see several examples which may prove that the original “life giver” isn’t always interested in cleaning up after himself–.