Borrowing Other Strategies in the Fight Against Sign Spam

Post and photos by the Hawthorne Hawkman

Ed Kohler at the Deets had an excellent post about combating sign spam.  In that post, various exchanges between the Hardest Working Lazy Guy blog and a sign spammer were documented, and elevated almost to an art form.  So when I came across the RCK Soul Food sign spam that was littered across NoMi this week, I looked to see if they had any online media that would allow for a similar exchange.

Yes, they do.

I posted a comment about having removed their litter ("Your illegally placed sign spam at the corner of Broadway and 94 has been removed. Please take down any other items."), and since my Facebook and Youtube accounts are linked, several friends saw the comment and removed even more sign spam.  The author of the video responded to my statement by saying..

..."Awwe, thats too bad that my 'illegally placed sign spam' has been removed by whom? are you like the sign police?? I'd like a copy of the ordinance if possible.....that I avoid any future violations... Is that possible? Please and Thank YOU!"

To which I responded, "Are you saying you believe it to be legal to place signs on property that's not yours, without the permission of the owner?

"There were at least two signs/litter I couldn't pick up because they were at busy intersections along Penn and Broadway and I had other appointments. Don't worry, I reported them to Minneapolis 311. You can remove them yourself first though."

I doubt she will remove them, but I did find another half dozen or so pieces of sign spam along Penn Avenue North this week.  Oh, and youtube wasn't letting me post the links to the code of ordinances for them to read.  Maybe they'll find it here.

The food in the video looks pretty good, and I hope the business is successful.  They're just going to have to be successful without spamming NoMi with illegal signs.