For the second time in a week, vandals have defaced the Trump-Pence sign in the 2700 block of Willis Avenue on Perry’s east side.
ThePerryNews.com reported Monday that unknown vandals defaced the two-faced campaign sign with symbols of white supremacism. By Friday the swastikas were blotted out, and new graffiti was visible on the sign.
Nearly six months have passed since Donald Trump lost the presidential election, which was held Nov. 3, 2020. It is customary to remove campaign signs for political elections fairly soon after the event.
“We are by no means trying to drum up controversy,” said someone representing himself April 20 on The Perry News Facebook page as William J. Jacobsen, a member of the family who erected the sign on their Willis Avenue property.
“You will find that the signs will be covered up very soon,” Jacobsen said. His comment was shortly afterward removed from the thread of comments.
It appears Jacobsen’s sign might be violating the Perry zoning ordinances.
According to the Perry zoning map of February 2021, the Jacobsen property on Willis Avenue lies in an arterial commercial zone (CA). Chapter 165.27.7.O of the Perry Code of Ordinances, which applies to signage in CA zones, reads (emphasis added): “Sign structures which have become dilapidated and are likely to cause injury or degrade the surrounding neighborhood and signs which advertise a past event or past political election, are no longer legible, or are otherwise unsafe or untimely, are a nuisance or danger to the public. The Zoning/Building Official is authorized to remove, or to have removed, all dangerous or nuisance signs, the cost of which shall be borne by the sign owner.”
The Perry Chief of Police and the Perry City Attorney were not available to comment on the legality of the sign under the city’s zoning ordinances.
Someone representing himself on The Perry News Facebook page as Charles Jennings Jacobsen, also a family member, said April 20 that he has been too busy to remove the sign.
“It’s not a big deal,” Jacobsen said. “We really don’t care that much about it.”
Citing the Perry Code of Ordinances, if you have not cleared the snow from your sidewalks within 48 hours after the snowfall stops (business districts within 12 hours), the city will clear the snow and send a bill for at least $75.
Likewise, if a portion of your lawn grows taller than eight inches, the city will come and mow it, sending you a bill. If not paid within a short period of time, the cost is assessed to the property and the city can put a lien on the property, possibly with additional fees.
The election was on November 3rd, and certified on December 11th, over 20 weeks ago.
It is clear that the sign’s owners have been violating a city ordinance for several months.
The city’s leniency towards the sign’s owners is both curious and informative.
I fully understand why the city may be loathe to enforce the ordinance that pertains to this. Rest assured, the city can certainly impose fines for letting the signs linger. The question is whether there will be less of a messy uproar for letting the signs remain than for demanding their removal. If the property owners insist upon letting the eyesores remain at the cost of the good will of at least half their neighbors, so be it. The longer the signs remain, the more apparent it will become just how contemptuous they are of the city of Perry, its businesses and their neighbors. If they want to continue threatening the incomes of the town’s retailers with such negative PR, that is their choice. Of course, it’s mostly only the local press that is concerning themselves with this issue. Just imagine how the state and nation will view Perry if and when the major media outlets get wind of all of this. If the property owners want to play that game, I have no problem with that. They are quite free to exercise their First Amendment rights. So be it. While I choose not to alert the rest of the state and nation to all this myself, I would suggest those who would demand the signs be removed organize a PR campaign to inform a wider audience about all this childish behavior. No. I will not open that door, but I hereby unlock it.