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Wellesley resident digs in his heels over Trump sign

January 31, 2019 by Deborah Brown Leave a Comment

BREAKING NEWS FROM THE TOWN OF WELLESLEY:

Town of Wellesley Communications Manager Stephanie Hawkinson has just informed us of the following:

“The Town of Wellesley, through its Building Inspector, will rescind the violation notice served upon Dan Chiasson regarding a violation of section 22A (Signs) of the Town’s zoning bylaw.  The Town appreciates Mr. Chiasson’s response to the notice and is prepared to review its bylaw to ensure that it complies with recent Federal Court decisions on political signs.

The violation notice was initially issued because of the size of the sign. The town has no issue with the message of the sign.”

So suddenly, there’s nothing to see here, folks.

Earlier today The Boston Globe reported that a Wellesley resident had been notified by the Town of Wellesley via certified mail that his current mode of political expression is at odds with the town’s bylaws. Apparently a complaint about the sign triggered the town’s demand to either remove the banner within seven days or face fines of $300/day. Ostensibly, it wasn’t the message, it was the medium. When putting up signs, the town says homeowners must comply to certain regulations put in place to among other things, “encourage and promote aesthetic integrity, village character, creativity and community appearance by exercising reasonable control.”

Don’t get sign-hanger, rabble-rouser, poet, and Wellesley College English professor Dan Chiasson going about “reasonable control.” Check out his Twitter feed to get an earful.

Here’s Chiasson’s Wellesley Hills house along with a little political signs history:

Wellesley resident Dan Chiasson asked the Town on his Twitter feed, “do you really want to try to enforce this?” He’s not planning to pay any $300/day fine and reckons he’ll just wait and see how this whole thing plays out. The Town has rescinded the violation notice.
Goodbye, Donald. Wellesley
This 2016 picture hearkens back to Chiassen in a more hopeful mood. We got an earful from someone in his household when we posted this pic and mentioned that the 2016 election results showed that, actually, the country had voted to say hello to Trump.

 

The big dawgs from Boston 25 are on this story. I ran into reporter Drew Karedes and his cameraman as they were looking for neighbors to interview. I didn’t make the audition for that role, but we had a nice chat.
Ah, here’s how it’s done on Brook Street. Small and tasteful, this Trump MAGA sign affixed to a Brook Street residence caused a stir when it went up  in 2016, but now it’s just part of the scenery. Did I just put “tasteful” and “Trump” in the same sentence? Oh yes I did.

 

 

 

 

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