The Big Sign Controversy: Signs go to Committee Regulations & Definitions "The Sound Of Truth"3/19/08 Save the Date Dave Gardner Sounds off on "Signs of Business" Signs of Business 2/28/08 David Gardner-His Side of the Sign Debate 2/28/08 A Small Win for Downtown Business Owners 2/21/08 The Moratorium 2/21/08 Abuzz 2/20/08 The Law The Blog Sound Off - tell us what you think or want others to know!

David Gardner - His Side of the Sign Debate By Ben Gauthier When approaching an issue such as the sign debate, where both sides have contrasting opinions, the answer often lies somewhere in the middle where both sides share common ground. In an attempt to find a compromise which will satisfy both sides, it is important to consider each others contrasting view points and along the way clear up misconceptions. In order to effectively communicate the whole story to you, EasthamptonWeb extensively interviewed Mr. Gardner to allow him to share his side in addition to the other side that has been represented in previous stories. In order to insure that all of Mr. Gardner's statements are represented correctly, before you read this story Mr. Gardner has read it and verified that his opinions and statements were not misconstrued or inaccurately quoted. The first matter that we discussed was how, exactly, Mr. Gardner came to be involved in the matter. Mr. Gardner has sat on the Zoning Board of Appeals for eight years and was motivated by things he saw from this position. The example he used was of an applicant who wanted a sign for a business and went through the proper legal process. He went before the board on which Mr. Gardner sat, and requested a sign of a size that was not allowed by City laws. The Board told him no, because it was illegal, to which the applicant replied that various other businesses had these size signs. Mr. Gardner thought that the, “Lack of enforcement was unjust.” Mr. Gardner carefully planned his actions including the article that appeared in the newspaper on December 13, 2007. Mr. Gardner wrote his proposal to the mayor, who then passed it along to the City Council, the City Solicitor, and the Building Commissioner. It was approved by all of the aforementioned and Mr. Gardner was appointed by the Builder Commissioner to the position of Sign Enforcement Volunteer. He planned to wait until after the holidays to take action in order to accommodate businesses. Next, he planned to inform businesses that had signs that violated the bylaw of the matter and did not intend to levy any fines or confiscate any signs. As he spoke with various businesses he began to get the feeling that people were unaware of the bylaw and therefore, it was not fair to enforce the law when people had invested in the signs and were under the impression that they were able to use them. Since his whole mission was fairness, Mr. Gardner issued his moratorium on enforcement. Mr. Gardner will continue to speak with owners who have other types of signs that are illegal, and in the future, if the bylaws are changed, Mr. Gardner will see to it that those new laws are enforced. Mr. Gardner cites, “Chronic lack of enforcement and exposure,” to the laws as reason for the business community's reaction to the situation. He goes on to say that we would not be at this juncture now, if the city had the time or budget to do what he is now doing for free as a service to the city. Regardless of what might have been done or what should have been done, we have now arrived at this juncture and something has to be done. In his moratorium on enforcement, Mr. Gardner cited that he needs to see that a, “demonstrable effort has been made to change the current regulation by March 24, 2008, [otherwise] enforcement of sandwich board sign placement will resume.” When asked what would constitute a “demonstrable effort” at the March 20 public forum, Mr. Gardner said that there would need to be, “a good turnout, and the people at the forum would need to stick to the issue of modifying the bylaw and not resort to personal attacks.” We have plenty more information from our interview that can be made public should you request it. If you have any questions or would like further details from the interview please let us know by emailing the editor and if the requests become numerous we will post more information in a follow up story.