To the Editor:
Once again our beautiful City of Alexandria has been defaced by thousands of signs promoting candidates for mayor, City Council, State Senate and state House of Delegates. Signs are everywhere — in the medians of streets, on park lands, on church and school grounds — anywhere that two metal wires can be shoved into the soil. One sign was wired to a traffic sign. Another is in front of a fire hydrant. Some candidates have placed signs in the yards of citizens without seeking the owner’s permission.
This display is getting ridiculous. One candidate posted 16 signs within a one-block median area of Duke Street. His opponent had 17 signs, many of which were placed in front of the other candidate’s signs so as to block them from view. When a recent storm brought rain and wind, signs were blown over and into streets and yards, where some remained weeks later.
It is time for our new City Council to rein in this gluttony. Some candidates seem to think that we voters elect the person who erects the most signs, when we do not. It would be a significant improvement for the electoral process if more time were spent bringing issues to the electorate.
City Council should enact an ordinance to prohibit campaign signs on public property, to include street medians and curbs, sidewalks, parklands and government buildings. If a private property owner wishes to place 100 signs in her/her private yard, so be it. But this defacement of our city must stop.
M. T. Monson, Jr.
Alexandria