Paper ‘commercials’ deface public properties, but what can be done?

You’ve seen them everywhere. “Lose 30 Pounds,” “Work at Home,” “Make Money with your PC.” Signs everywhere: stuck in the ground at mall and interstate exits, stapled to utility poles, plastered with adhesive to public surfaces.

We don’t mind the yard sale, charitable circus and state fair signs. They are part of our culture. They go up for a bit, then they come down.

But these ugly commercials? Where do they come from? Who puts them there? Why do these people feel that they can deface our public streets and private property with advertising without paying anyone for the space? And are these offers worth anything?

First, we have no clue if the offers are legitimate or have any value. We are working on that. But you have to ask yourself, how trustworthy can nameless, faceless litterbugs be? How often are weight loss and work-at-home schemes worth anything? The answer: not often.

But there’s the other issue. Where do they get off trashing our streets and neighborhoods and why isn’t someone doing anything about it?

We asked Bangor’s city manager and Public Works Department. The city doesn’t want the signs on its lawns, street sides and utility poles.

We asked Bangor Hydro-Electric Co. Hydro doesn’t want the signs on its poles.

We asked the telephone company. The telephone company doesn’t want the signs there.

No one wants the signs there. And no one cares if they are removed. In fact, the city, Hydro and telephone company would just as soon have the eyesores gone.

So, it’s up to us, we folks who pay taxes, take pride in our neighborhoods, and are sick of looking at the things. Go ahead, rip them up, tear them off, spray them with paint. Knock yourself out. Have fun. Be an urban guerrilla. No one cares. And maybe if enough of this junk is destroyed, the perpetrators will just stop because it’s costing them too much.

And one more thing. COMBAT is examining whether placement of these unwanted signs constitutes defacing public property, violates Maine’s highway signing statutes, or is against our litter laws. If so, there could be substantial fines for each sign placed without permission on public ways and private property.

So, if you have any information about who (name and address) is placing these signs or if you see someone posting a sign and get a vehicle description and license plate of the perpetrator, please forward that information to COMBAT’s Maine Center for the Public Interest. We will do the rest.

We recently ran a column about the dangers of motorized scooters to children and adults who use them. A Hancock County reader writes: “I would like to point out something that apparently has not occurred to many … scooters, as well as bicycles on the sidewalk, bicycle messengers, skateboards, and Rollerblades are dangerous to pedestrians … especially older walkers who are at risk of breaking a hip if they are knocked down, and often dying as a result. A Washington forum on hip injury announced that while 40,000 women a year die from breast cancer, 65,000 older women die from a broken hip and complications. A lot of these things sound like fun to me at first, and then I have to stop and remember that I’m one of those older women at risk.”

Good point. It’s not just the riders of these person-powered vehicles at risk of injury … but also those who get in the way. Thanks Hancock County, Forum welcomes our readers’ comments.

Consumer Forum is a collaboration of the Bangor Daily News and Northeast COMBAT/The Maine Center for the Public Interest, Maine’s membership-funded nonprofit consumer organization. For help or to request individual or business membership information write: Consumer Forum, Bangor Daily News, PO Box 1329, Bangor 04402-1329.