If Portland, OR and even nearby Lexington can require permits for sandwich-board signs, why not Boston? The City Council tomorrow considers the issue, in the form of a request by at-large Councilor Michael Flaherty for new regulations that would require store owners to get permission from the city to put the free-standing ads in front of their shops. Read more.

Remember those godawful sandwich boards that were destroying what little life was left on barren Newbury Street?

Look what malodorous thing now sits on Centre Street in West Roxbury! A sandwich board! As you can see, it's completely destroyed the street life in the neighborhood - nobody is using the bench and nobody can get to the trash can. Somebody alert the sign police!