Same Playbook, Same Result?

Dawn Masko has taken a page out of her mentor’s playbook and called an audible at the line. Evidently, after reading the defense, Ms. Masko decided to run things differently from the way they were called on the sideline back in April.

There is lip service regarding the need to garner additional inputs as a reason to change the play, the format, and the scope from what the mayor and council outlined way back when, but this is Masko’s baby now.

April. That is Baseball’s time to shine; it is not exactly football season but the city team is hoping the sign ordinance issue should resolve itself sometime between the Apple Cup and the holiday bowl season.

To refresh your collective memories, the sign issue was raised as a matter of enforcement. There was a proliferation of signs not conforming to the city code as written. The signage advocates, led by the churches, claimed confusion of the law and the direction given by city. Plausible, but only the part that the city could confuse their own code.

After some hurt feelings the city pledged to enforce the sign code. It was a grandstanding moment for the city to appear to do something but if you blinked then you may have missed the whole of the city’s activity on the issue. Behind the scenes there were letters sent and DBA announcements made, but I am quite confident that if you audit the books that there are still some gaps in the city’s coverage.

That is not to say that there haven’t been some little victories. There are fewer signs at Center Drive and McNeil. Quadrant ponied up their fees for their signs and was forced to conform with their placement. But, you can hardly call the whole a success with this much time left on the clock. There are still obvious examples of rouge signage that hasn’t been addressed.

The solution was supposed to be a huddle of stakeholders. Churches, citizens, businesses, and the city; but that changed and now Ms. Masko seemingly has lost her nerve and decided to let the chorus of the crowd dictate her fourth down maneuver.

A town hall meeting. That is the equivalent of punting in the red zone. There are children’s birthday parties that are better attended in DuPont than their town hall meetings. But just as the clown knots together a few balloons and calls it a giraffe, so does the city hold a meeting and claim citizen input. It is all an illusion.

The last town hall meeting I bothered to attend had exactly 17 citizens in attendance. Is this just another case of the city checking a box and calling it done? There are concerns over this approach. The first is that it takes a seemingly simple task and complicates it unnecessarily. Does the resolution really require more input? There is a law on the books, the concern was over the enforcement associated with the law. That would suggest it to be procedural matter.

The risk the city is running is to muddle the objective with phony “citizen” testimony. This is often referred to as “astro-turfing” since it creates the illusion of a grassroots movement but instead offers up a stacked deck of supporters or opponents. For instance, let’s say I have a business or a church and I really want any change in the sign code to accommodate my needs. If I know that I can fill a public hearing with 20 “supporters” to passionately or emotionally testify in favor of more signs on public sidewalks then they may create the illusion of wider support.

The end result of this exercise could very well mean more real estate and church signs.

The action at hand in DuPont with the sign issue is one of balance between the needs and wants of our businesses and homeowners; but also it is a matter of vision. How do we want the town to appear aesthetically to visitors and citizens alike. Do the mayor, council, and ROA envision a well maintained and tidy community of homeowners or would they rather have the commercial district extend into our neighborhoods? If they opt for allowing more signs or ignoring the code enforcement, then I really cannot see the point of paying homeowner association dues.

In fairness to Dawn Masko, she is trying to engage the community, however it just isn’t the time or place. The history of recent Town Hall meetings suggests more of the same old, same old. Same old people and the same old result. Hurrying the meeting onto the calendar after a long period of silence on the matter also does not suggest a successful new approach. Dawn Masko, in fact, is married to the same old approach and this meeting shows it. There is no city data to suggest the frequency or success of sign sweeps. No information to consider, just more emotion.

Remember, no one really asked for a new sign code, they just asked that the existing code be enforced.

The last point is that Dawn Masko does not live in DuPont. She really has very little idea what the scope of the problem is and she can only assume that if no one is complaining then it must be OK. The reality is that most people will not complain nor will they get involved. This is where our council and mayor should have shown some more leadership on the issue. Mayor Jenkins did offer some leadership and directed Masko and McDonald in April. Can Ms. Masko feel that she has a better idea now?

It is my hope that whatever the outcome of the meeting someone will address the hand held signs employed to direct people to Pageantry’s townhouses for sale in Hoffman Hill. It is a curious sight since the corner of Hoffman Hill Boulevard and McNeil Street is so far from the commercial district. It is also redundant with the other way finding signs directing motorists to the same destination. Perhaps what is most curious is that the sign waver is also perfectly positioned to be seen by those visiting our most well attended tourist destination: The Home Course.

Today, the golfers got an eyeful with our teenage directional sign holder dancing with earphones in place and his female companion sprawled on the ground, passed out on a blanket. Welcoming for 5000 years or until the shift is over. On more than one occasion, passersby stopped to check on the welfare of our city strip camper.

Just because no one complains, Ms. Masko, doesn’t make it right.