A quick review

of 17.60.5.030  Bench/transit shelter signs, shows absolutely nothing that would lead one to believe bench/transit shelter actually need to be on a bus route. The transit shelters addressed in the Trib article are well under the “maximum of 50% of the square footage of walls exposed to vehicular traffic”. Each one must be approved by Community Development prior to issuance of a permit, for which a annual fee is paid to the City, not the Transit District. Any revenue generated by the Transit District for advertising is completely seperate from anything addressed in the City Sign Code.

And my god man, someone spends $250,000 dollars of his money on something like this, in this town, and you bitch about them being an eyesore? Look around you. How many eyesores do you see that do nothing for the image and economy of Great Falls?

These signs are legal, bring in yearly revenue to the City, are professionally built, installed, and maintained, and provide a beneft to the public. I hope you didn’t come here and think I’m going to help you bash them, because this may be an example of the way things should work. 

My personal likes and dislikes have nothing to do with it, and yours shouldn’t either. I write about the Sign Code, and I thought I had made it clear, it is not about what signs look good. It is not about how tall they are or if the colors clash. It is not about if Benefis should be allowed to hang banners on it’s own skywalk. It is about following the rules.

Do you realize, or care, that the City just told Benefis that they could not put their own property on their own property? Do you have any idea how wrong I think that is? There are violations of the Sign Code on every block, and the City does nothing about them. Benefis has taken the banners down. Good hospital.

Now they should Appeal the decision.  When they lose that appeal, they should get a lawyer. (Actually, I think they already have a couple) They should be able to prove the City is unfairly discriminating against them - by simply enforcing it’s own Sign Code.

That’s kinda funny. I just wrote that as sarcasm, but now that I’m thinking about it, I might have to investigate the possibility. Hmm.

15 March 2008 | Life | Comments