1366 Sign Off

I was driving from point A to point B the other day and I noticed something that has been staring me in the face for a long time. There are signs everywhere.
And not just ordinary signs. Semi-illegal signs.
Have you noticed lately how cheesy banners are proliferating on sides of buildings? They’re worse than the little illegal stick-em up signs stapled into the side of the road.
And it’s because they are legal—sort of. For years, cities, in an attempt to beautify the cityscape, have enacted sign ordinances. They do this because businesses, ever after the cheapest way to advertise, would put up all manner of not-so-tasteful signs in front of their buildings.
This in a bow to the notion that we are a drive-by economy and all that traffic driving by the front of their businesses needs to be apprised of the prizes said business owners have for them inside.
The ordinances sought to contain the negative visual effects of that urge. Citizens were treated, for a while, to a modicum of relief from the often-tacky evidences of that entrepreneur enthusiasm.
Then the businesses found the loophole. “Temporary” signs on the actual walls of their buildings were exempt. Enter the permanent “sale” sign. And something else. Businesses began to rent out their walls to other businesses for the banner space. So now a business doesn’t just have a “temporary” sign proclaiming his killer prices on Bud Light, he also has semi-permanent signs for a hot tub company, and maybe a bail bond company with no frontage and a cheap back-alley location.
So is this just another example of business thumbing its nose at intrusive government regulation?
Or a bad example to our graffiti-spraying youth that laws are meant to be ignored? America, ya gotta love it.