Pull Those Political Weeds

I’ll say it right up front. I dislike political signs. I consider them litter. When I see them sprouting up like so many weeds in my neighborhood in the weeks before an election is held, I cringe. If I could restrict them to being in people’s yards or the windows of homes or businesses, I’d be a happy camper.

Someday, a smart campaign will make a virtue of being a “green” campaign, one that doesn’t use up resources by printing signs that will get tossed out in a matter of weeks or even print and send direct mail.  But I know this is a pipe dream. There are die hards who just love seeing their signs out on the streets.  I’m likely to be overruled on this one for the foreseeable future.

But please folks, take pity on those of us whose neighborhoods got overrun by your signs. You have an obligation to yank these political weeds chop chop after Election Day. We’re coming up on nearly a week after November 2 and there are still plenty of signs up. Some cities require signs to be removed as soon as five days after an election, including La Mesa and National City. Bravo! Escondido and San Marcos allow ten days. Other jurisdictions allow up to 30 days before resorting to cleaning them up and billing campaigns for their removal. Poway and Santee become veritable sign farms because both cities allow political signs to be placed in the public right-of-way, with the exception of center medians. Hence the mess at major intersections leading up to election day.  A Poway dog breeder took the initiative to sneak her sign in advertising German Shepherd puppies for sale among the group of signs on the northwest corner of Scripps Poway Parkway and Pomerado Road. Cheeky!

Perhaps you’re having trouble remembering where all your signs ended up. I call upon San Diego Rostra readers to post comments with the candidate or issue name(s) and locations(s) of the offending political signs still seeing the light of day as a public service to the campaigns so they can come and collect their goods.

I’ll start. Judge Richard Monroy, you’ve still got signs on Pomerado Road north of Scripps Poway Parkway. State Senator Joel Anderson, get that big monster banner of yours down from the aforementioned northwest intersection of Pomerado Road and Scripps Poway Parkway. Carly Fiorina and Jerry Brown signs are in the same area.