DemocratsPittsford.org

On the front page of the November 4, 2009 Brighton-Pittsford Post, (online at http://www.mpnnow.com/monroe_county_east/x1717111917/Workers-tending-political-signs-causes-confusion-in-Pittsford) Pittsford Commissioner of  Public works Paul Schenkel claims

“There have been town of Pittsford code enforcement officers looking for illegally placed signs and they will remove those signs. Certainly we’re not out straightening the signs.”
He added that code enforcement officers will remove the signs regardless of the signs’ political affiliation.

His statements don’t fit the evidence.

First take a look on this picture taken by Neil Doran at the Highway Garage dumpster on November 2, 2009:

How did these signs get into the Highway Department Dumpster?

(Click on the thumbnail images for a large view.)

Since Schenkel claims that every effort will be made to give the removed signs back to the candidates, how come neither Linda Kelly, Neil or myself were contacted?

But more importantly, why weren’t these Republican signs removed that apparently are in violation of the sign ordinance (not in right of way, 10 feet off pavement, no more than four per parcel, etc.):

Red line is approximate property line - signs are in right of way

or this one

Property line is about at sidewalk

These pictures were taken the day after Election Day.

But if you want to see gross sign law viollations here are some for you:

Six signs with four the limit on a Clover Street property

The one that really is the most blatant takes two pictures to show all the signs:

Four facing French Road..

and four more on the Monroe Avenue side

Actually I have another view which shows a fifth on the French Road side. Either way there are at least eight when only four are permitted. Note that on the French Road side the leaves seemed to have been picked up without disturbing the signs? Not the same for a Democratic set of signs on Clover Street where the highway department leaf pickup crew reportedly threw the signs back on the lawn.

I have other examples of apparently illegal political signs this past election season in the Town that Mr. Schenkel’s staff ignored but they can’t seem to see real estate or farm stand signs that are apparently illegal either.

First the real estate signs. Here is one from Alpine Drive that has been in place for several months:

The right of way extends approximately to the red line on the other side of the sidewalk.

Another is on Kilbourn that has also been there for several months. The following two pictures were taken last week before and after the highway department picked up leaves:

Before the leaves were picked up..

Later that afternoon after leaf pickup

Since this sign has also been there for many months, it is hard to believe that the Town doesn’t know it is there.

Here is a set for a farm stand that apparently are illegal, the first on Route 96:

This one near Route 96 and East Street is in the right of way

The next ones are in front of the farm stand:

Only the far left is apparently legal with one allowed on the parcel and the far right one is in the right of way and not 10 feet off the pavement

And then there is the one that has been at Thornell and East:

Once again in the right of way, not 10 feet off the pavement

Look around and you can find many more, so many that it has to be Town policy to ignore them despite claims to the contrary.

Mr. Schenkel works for the Town, and if Mr. Carpenter wanted to enforce his own ordinance, Mr. Schenkel would see that the illegal signs were removed and properly returned to their owners. The other members of the Town Board clearly have a responsibility here especially since Ms. Green, Mr. Higgins and Ms. Zutes (as well as now Judge Bernacki) all voted for the law in March 2007.

I have no idea what was going through Bill Carpenter’s mind when he was quoted in the August 5,2009 BPP article about a suburban RBTL venue.

As per the BPP, Bill said “Without having a specific site in mind I told them that we’d be willing to come to the table. I think it’s a great venue to have. I think it would fit in our community in many ways so I think it’s worth considering.”

Think traffic. Think no open space near an expressway entrance. Think no mention of this type of need in the about to be approved Comprehensive Master plan.

I think he is just off the wall on this.

One egregious example of apparently illegal temporary signage in the Town is a 3750 Monroe Avenue. There are two ‘temporary’ signs advertizing space available. I say ‘temporary’ since I believe the signs have been there for at least a year.

An oversize temporary sign at 3750 Monroe Avenue

First a note about how I go about checking if a sign is in my mind illegal. When I get annoyed enough after seeing it I’ll remember to bring my camera with me and take a few pictures, estimating how far the sign is from something like the sidewalk or the stripe on the side of the road as well as the sign size, if necessary.

The hard question is trying to decide where the sign is in relation to the lot boundary. I got no end of grief when I complained at the Town Building department about where a sign was. Even after I got them to pull out some plot maps they were not willing to concede that the sign was in the right of way. They were very reluctant actually go out and check the sign for themselves. They claimed they were too busy with the CheeseCake Factory construction even though they passed the sign in question in going from Town Hall to the CheeseCake Factory location!

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The short answer is yes!  It’s the ‘how to win’ that gets more complex.  We can look back at the last election, still fresh in our minds, and probably come up with a myriad of mistakes made and opportunities missed.  However, that’s not what this post is about.  It is about moving forward.  It is about preparing for the next time.

I only began attending committee meetings when I started to help Mike Nolan, but what I saw at our last meeting inspired me.  The members who were there were passionate, organized and ready to go to work.  If you need proof you only need to remember the committed visability organizers who stood at the four corners of Pittsford every morning and night from October 3rd right through election night.  Then we have the people who gave up their weekend to do  lit drops and those who came to phone bank on Monday and Tuesday.  Even with the unfortunate phone bank issue on election night the calls got made.  People were committed to follow through.  All this is good news for the future but there is more we need to do.

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