Alert “06880” reader Jeff Wieser — who doubles as president and CEO of Homes With Hope — writes:
The end of the political season is a terrible time to raise this issue – again. The entire town is sick of yard signs, and the controversy they continue to stir up.
But I would love to make “06880” readers aware of a different reality about yard signs.
The town has a very specific policy about non-political yard signs. Not-for-profits (those that abide by the regulations) ask the office of the selectmen (in advance) for permission to erect yard signs at specific town-owned locations.
They can be placed no more than 2 weeks before an event, and there can be no more than 15 of them. At Homes with Hope we abide by these rules for the 2 events per year for which we put up yard signs. We also make sure after those events to take the signs down quickly.
This Saturday (November 10) we have our annual fundraising benefit — “Stand Up for Homes with Hope,” at the Westport Country Playhouse. We put up yard signs 2 weeks ahead of time in our town-approved sites. The storm uprooted a few signs, but we replaced those in our last-ditch attempt this week to inform Westporters about this important annual fundraiser.
Have you seen me?
It appears, though, that a few neighbors object even to these town-approved attempts at getting the word out. A large number of signs have disappeared, seemingly victims of a few vigilantes.
While I apologize for our need for yard signs, the fact is they are very effective in letting people know about events. For those of us who respect the rules of the town, I think it fair that our neighbors should also respect the rules and let us keep up our signs!