Fighting Sign Pollution in Florida With Robocalls (signs 'remind tourists of the slow economy')
(Illegal advertising signs in Hollywood, Fla. City officials, fed up with the visual clutter, began repeatedly phoning the offenders.)
In Florida, they are as much a part of the landscape as palm trees and oceanfront hotels: plastic signs cluttering roadsides with messages like We Buy Houses! Junk Cars! and Avoid Foreclosure!
But now, worried about the impact on tourism and the states natural beauty, some coastal communities have begun aggressive campaigns against the signs by robocalling the advertisers phone numbers.
Its the only crime I know of where a person deliberately leaves their phone number behind, said Mayor Peter Bober of Hollywood, which uses computer software to call the phone numbers, up to 20 times per day, until offenders pay a $75 fine. They want us to call. So lets call. And keep calling.
Think of it as fighting one nuisance with another. The advertisements, known as snipe signs, are illegal in many Florida communities on public property like highway medians or telephone poles. But they are also cheap to print and hard to eradicate.
(...)
Cities say they are worried that the flashy signs for Cheap Houses and Bankruptcy Relief
will remind tourists of the slow economy, especially in Florida, which has the nations highest foreclosure rate.
full:
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/06/03/us/in-florida-fighting-sign-pollution-with-robocalls.html