Political signs on city-owned property on the northwest corner of William Street and West End Blvd.
Regular readers of this blog might be aware that I have a pet peeve or two. Certain things get my goat and I just can't ignore them.
One of these goat-getters is the {http://www.semissourian.com/blogs/hollerbach/entry/29581/ northwest corner of West End Blvd and William Street.} It's an unassuming grassy area with a small house next to it. Most people probably think that all of this property belongs to the owners of the house, but it does not.
Most of it belongs to the City.
Long ago the land was bought by MODOT when William Street was widened in the 1970's and this remnant parcel was later signed over to the town.
In short, most of this corner is city-owned public property.
I've come to consider it our town's smallest unofficial park.
Oh sure, there are no basketball courts or park benches or waste receptacles or even a Port-A-Potty, but there are a couple parking spots. I'm pretty sure whoever lives in the house next to the lot uses those rather than any picnickers who wish to relax and watch the traffic roll by on William Street.
But unfortunately, there is no sign alerting residents that it is public property.
However, at the time of this writing there were in fact three signs at Cape's littlest park, but none of them actually informed residents of its informal recreational status.
No, the signs were for political races.
A large Jo Ann Emerson sign showed up last week followed a day or two later by a couple of smaller Wayne Wallingford signs. Emerson is of course the incumbent Congresswoman for the Missouri Eighth District, and Wallingford is running for the Republican primary state representative ticket for the 158th district.
Politicians have long used this corner to promote themselves. I'm not sure who tells them it is OK. Perhaps, they just assume it is OK because they and their brethren have done it for years. Or perhaps, it is whoever happens to be home at the house on the corner. But the fact is, the owner of that house doesn't own most of the land between it and William Street. It is the publics, yours and mine.
And according to the Cape Girardeau zoning ordinances
"no sign other than an official traffic sign shall be placed within any public right-of-way." This law is not new. It's been on the books for years.
I'm sure that a lot of political signage violates this ordinance. The city right-of-way on many of our of streets is considerable and most people don't know what it is unless they check the maps at City Hall.
Heck, I've even violated this ordinance myself and I do know where the city's right of way is on my property. But if I actually obeyed this ordinance the signs would be too far from the street for anyone to actually notice them.
But there is a difference between my past "lawbreaking" and what is being currently done by the Emerson and Wallingford campaigns.
While the signs I put up were in the "public right-of-way," my wife and I wholly own the land. This is not the case with the northwest corner at William Street and West End Blvd.
The area where these political signs are* located is not only in the "public right-of-way" it is public land, the same as City Hall or Capaha Park. You don't see political signs in those locations and I don't think you should see them on this corner, cluttering up Cape's littlest park.
*To be fair, one of Wallingford's signs MIGHT be located on private property.
| 
|
| Photo of map showing the city's right of ways around the intersection from a previous blog last August. |
|
|
Here is a screenshot of the property assessment map for the area mentioned in this blog from emapsplus.com.
|
Menu
Respond to this blog
Posting a comment requires a subscription.