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City councilor hosts online discussion about sandwich boards
By adamg on Sat, 07/18/2015 - 10:44am
At-large Councilor Michelle Wu has started a discussion about the sign boards to see what might make good regulations for them.
Via Boston Reddit.
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Comments
Get rid of them
There is no difference between these and space savers. Sandwich boards are more dangerous because it effects pedestrians on the sidewalk and are just another target for dogs to piss on.
The sidewalks are crowded enough as it is
And some of those boards have sharp corners. A little scrape won't kill you, unless you pick up a blood-borne disease from a street person who stumbled into the sandwich board shortly before you.
Dangerous? Seriously?
I realize in some areas they could, potentially, be in the way on a sidewalk. But saying they're dangerous is a stretch.
At worst
they're a tripping hazard, or if they block the sidewalk enough that people feel encouraged to walk into the street. Mostly, though, they're an ADA-violation, because the law requires sidewalks to be a certain width to allow the passage of enough pedestrians as well as wheelchairs. In some parts of the city, the sidewalk goes right up to the edge of the building to hit this minmum width, so sandwich boards aren't appropriate in those spots. In places where the sidewalk's wide enough for them to not obstruct the sidewalk, they're fine.
Could you make your comment
Could you make your comment on this google form? It will go on the Agora website and be read by Michelle Wu prior to the hearing.
Thanks for your comment!
Thanks for your comment! Could you sign up and put your comment on Agora? Michelle Wu will actually be reading those comments prior to the hearing on Thursday and your opinion is valuable.
Kudos to Wu
One of the only City Councilors that does any real work, whatsoever. And she genuinely seems to think about the entire city, as her at-large position suggests. I disagree with her on a lot of politics, but I admire her hustle.
It wouldn't be Boston without
It wouldn't be Boston without one more thing to regulate.
Way to go after the big problems Councilor.
NYC
heavily regulates them. Why should Boston be any different? The main problems are they clutter heavily used sidewalks. Charles St, Beacon Hill a good example. If you actually want to walk down Charles St from say Beacon to Cambridge, you have to run a gauntlet of sidewalk clutter, crowds hanging out IN THE MIDDLE OF THE SIDEWALK in from of those two namesless 'hip' restaurants, at some point you gotta get out on the side of the street and walk or it'll take a half hour to go 8 blocks. Ditto other streets and neighborhoods. Shit's tiresome and ridiculous.
Yes, they should be regulated, and banned in some areas.
Sharing your input with Michelle Wu
Hey thanks for your comment! Could you put it on the Agora website? Michelle Wu will be reading the comments before Thursday's hearing and it'd be great if this information was shared with her.
Regulation
Isn't there already a regulation that no one will block the sidewalk such that ~48" remain unencumbered at all times? (Or whatever the snow removal width is.)
How about instead of creating redundant regulations they just tell the inspectors to carry a measuring tape. Unlike cars and bikes it's obviously who the owner of the sign is and who to fine should it come to it.
I'd rather the clueless guy staring at their iphone walk into the sandwich board instead of me. It would be a nice change.