It’s the most wonderful time of the year: The ground’s too hard, at least temporarily, to accommodate any more of those ubiquitous lawn signs that pollute Wellesley and surrounding communities.
A casual tallying of such cardboard and wire signs along Washington Street or many side streets will add up into the dozens on any particular day. And these are on top of Wellesley’s hundreds of other street signs, business signs, sandwich boards and light-up public safety signs (that increasingly are used for non-public safety messages).
We’re talking yard signs for everything from home improvement businesses to arts performances and from sports leagues to seasonal events. Sometimes a handful of the same sign will dot a single property. And this is during a non-election cycle.
Not only are all these signs unsightly in large numbers, but they’re arguably distracting for already distracted drivers. Most aren’t breaking any town sign bylaws, but it’s not uncommon to see clearly unauthorized signs pinned into town property.
Far be it from us to tell fellow residents what they can or can’t do on their property. But we’ll occasionally uproot obviously rogue signs from town land such as the Hunnewell Fields. It’s just hard to keep up with the offenders.
The worst sign littering we’ve seen locally is just outside Wellesley in South Natick center, where close to a dozen signs can be found on a single patch of land. As if more distractions are needed at this oft-tense interaction.
So enjoy this golden period when the ground becomes too hard to plant yard signs. Until the snow piles up and new signs can be stuck alongside snow sculptures and holiday decorations.
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