AzLitter.org::Political Signs Are Litter and Visual Spam

Announcement
On 03 June 2004, AzLitter.org quit its political sign effort.

Political signs are litter.

Political signs are visual spam.

Political signs are attention thieves.

Political signs insult our intelligence levels.

Political signs should not be allowed on city property.
Many political signs are legally placed on city property, but some politicians don't hesitate to place their signs in illegal locations.

Political signs on private property is not litter. Private property owners are free to exercise their freedom of speech. City property belongs to all of us who live in the city. I'm not allowed to put up signs on city property -- why should politicians? The city of Tempe has tough sign-age laws -- why are these laws ignored for politicians?

If you live in Tempe, then you can report illegally placed political signs to the Tempe Code Compliance Manager at 480.350.8076.

Political Signs: Stories and Pictures (some politician names are morphed for fun)

Somebody named Vega wrote a Letter to the Editor of the Arizona Republic complaining about the Republic's editorial from Friday, 08 November 2002, where they called political signs litter. The Republic's editorial stated that now that the election is over, political signs need to come down. Vega wrote "If you had at least waited the 10 days of removal time and then wrote your truly stupid comment, I could cut you some slack." Ms. Vega (of Scottsdale) I don't understand why politicians are given 10 days to get the signs down. When the voting stops, then all political signs should be down. [13 November 2002]

On Monday, 11 November 2002 (Veterans Day), the USLitter Patrol visited the Tamarisk Shoe Tree located in California. Upon arriving at the shoe tree we encounted a political sign from Arizona ( close up view). [Headline: Arizona Litter Litters California] [11 November 2002]

Say what? Here is a post-election quote from Salmon: "The most important thing about a campaign isn't if you win." If this true, then why did he have to trash the beautiful state of Arizona with his political sign litter? [07 November 2002]

The election is over, but political signs continue to litter our public lands. Here is a short story about political signs the day after the election. [06 November 2002]

Note: Politicians are out there taking down signs and for that we say Thank You. Please execute this operation as quickly as possible and please pick-up the clippings instead of leaving them on the ground.

Tuesday, 29 October 2002, was a busy day with respect to political signs. Here is a summary of the day.

Craig Columbus places his signs in questionable locations and he tells lies to make us go away. Here is a story about Columbus.

Here is a Harry Mitchell political sign illegally located on south-bound Price Road between Southern and Baseline. Notice how Harry's sign attracted other political signs.

Laura Craperek (oops... Kraperek) now has a political sign on the SE corner of Country Club and Baseline. It has become almost impossible for me to get in and out of my neighborhood without being subjected to seeing Craperek's name and face. I want to know how much money Craperek has spent spamming us with political signs. [13 October 2002]

I was driving north on McClintock on Saturday, 12 October 2002, and encountered political signs about Taylor that are mis-placed. This political sign about Keuth is in a legal location, but I'm not sure it is setup correctly. I don't see how this political sign cannot be classified as litter.

Here is headline from the 11 October 2002 Arizona Republic: Hotline set up to catch campaign sign thieves. AzLitter.org will not waste webpage space giving out this number. According to the article "Removing signs is a crime punishable by hefty fines or up to 12 1/2 years in prison, depending on the value of the placards." How can anybody place a value on litter? Also according to the article, cameras have been used to help catch political sign pirates. All of this stuff is coming from the Maricopa County Attorney's Office -- talk about "wasting away the moments that make up a dull day." [11 October 2002]

According to the East Valley Political Insiders on Thursday, 10 October 2002, the city government of Gilbert had lengthy discussions about what to do with those who vandalize political signs. It was recommended that political sign vandals be forced to attend city council meetings. AzLitter.org proposes the following.

If somebody vandalizes a political sign, then their community service could be to join the Litter Patrol. In computing, we see a problem with recursion. Vandalize a political sign and you are forced to join a Litter Patrol. The Litter Patrol is free to destroy political signs because political signs on city properties are litter and the Litter Patrol's job is to picks-up litter. Those who vandalize political signs become life-long Litter Patrol members. The litter problem will never go away; therefore, Litter Patrols will always be needed.

I encountered a mess of plastic clippings on the SE corner of McClintock and Guadalupe [09 October 2002]. I don't know why these clippings are not considered litter. The only reason these clippings are on this street corner is because of political signs. The off-duty Litter Patrol collected up the clippings and made a small pile. The off-duty Litter Patrol did not pick-up the litter. The Litter Patrol suggests that red, white and blue ties be used; at least that way we would have patriotic looking litter.

I read a good joke in today's (Thursday, 03 October 2002) Arizona Republic.
In Gilbert, a political sign vandal may be fined $500 and either sentenced to 48 hours in jail or 200 hours of community service.
Again, since political signs are litter, I ask the question: How can you vandalize litter? I suggest that the community service be going around removing the political signs.

Kraperek is working hard to retain her Queen of Political Sign litter as evidenced by this questionable sign placement.

Here is a directory listing of political signs that are questionably placed. [The Hayworth and Thompson signs are on the south-side of Baseline just east of McClintock. The Robson sign is on the north-side of Guadalupe west of Mill Avenue. Kraperek's sign is on the south-side of Guadalupe just west of the 101.]

What do losers do with their political signs? They allow them to become illegal litter. The south-east corner of Guadalupe and McClintock, post-primary elections, is a disgusting mess. [If this crap isn't litter, then I don't what is.]

Mesa politicians complained about their political signs being vandalized. I have a simple solution: take them down. For some reason vandalizing a political sign is a crime. How can you vandalize litter? I was glad to see somebody decided to give Kraperek a new look. [Kraperek is the Queen of political sign litter.]

I'm not going out looking for this stuff, but... now the mountains (hills) of Tempe are being littered by political signs. Political signs are visual spam. [Note: spam is spelled in lower-case at the request of Hormel Corporation. SPAM written is all uppercase refers to the Hormel food product.]

AzLitter.org has awarded Laura Craperek the title of Queen of Political Sign Litter for her creative abilities at finding spots to stick her disgusting political signs.

This Star Mart is a litter dump and political signs don't help matters. [I cannot believe somebody would put a picture of their family unit on a sign.]

Laura Craperek has an extraordinary talent of finding legal places to put up her signs on city land. Hey, its legal, who cares if it is litter. Litter begets litter; therefore, Laura's signs have become litter shrines.

McClintock and Guadalupe is a busy intersection and its south-east corner is littered with political signs.

If politicians are going to litter our city with their signs, then they should pick up some of the litter that surrounds their signs. The signs at McClintock and Guadalupe are next to two major sources of litter -- Taco Bell and Fry's.

It is nice seeing a new building going up in Tempe. Too bad the view of this new building is being obstructed by litter from Despain and Thompson and Helm and Shell.

Tourism Helps Tempe may be true or it may be false: I don't know and I don't care. But, I do care about this proposition 400 litter. [If the proposition 400 sign bothers you, then here is a phone number you can call.]

Within the City of Tempe, some politician signs are legal and some are not. Regardless of their legal-ness, AzLitter.org considers all political signs litter.

Author: G.D.Thurman [gthurman@azdot.net]
Created: 04 August 2002