Signs 2009

Anyone have any comments about the good, bad and ugly in the signs this year?   Here are photos I took yesterday:

CH Mayor signs:

     

(and I hope this is the last we see of these signs:  )

 

CH Town Council:

 

         

 

CHCCS School Board:

        

Tags: 

Issues: 

Comments

btw, the "methodology" here is that I was walking up to Chapel of the Cross for "Bach Lunch".  The pictures are in the order I came across them for each race, with the oddball exception of Greg McElveen, because when I left my house his sign was not there, but when I came home last night it was (I didn't see any others of his on the walk).  Sorry, Carrboro, but you'll have to do your own.

and I agree on the extra "F" in Wolff.  His sign appears to have excised the vestigial consonant.

Here was Mark's sign when running for council which has persisted with the green theme.  I guess that fits with the Sierra Club endorsement? =p Just to add to sign pics, here is one I took: It looks like everyone has to strike their own balance between being simple enough to read the whole sign while driving by, and being attention grabbing enough to be read.

My wife disagrees, but I think Lee's signs are effective, but it is because she has a great name to put on there.  It doesn't take any time at all to process and remember you've seen her sign.I like the use of color -- Gucciardi and the white background ones in particular.  Green (IMHO) can get to a point of being overdone in this community.And I miss Raymond's previous  tie-ins with the TV show.  Guess he is more serious candidate this year is the message we're supposed to get.

Green may be a theme in our town, but it still not as pervasive as the red, white, & blue Obama signs, or the Navy Blue Background, yellow line, white text McCain-Palin signs that were around NC last time we had elections.  

When we voted this morning his signs were there.  What's up with that?

was to get elected and serve the public. But that may be an understatement.

personally, I think Gene Pease has the best sign in Chapel Hill this year, and I like MaryAnne Gucciardi's signs but where's the URL? I have some pics of Carrboro signs but I just haven't taken them off my camera yet. Some of them are pretty snazzy, especially Sammy Slade's.

I notice a lot of Person for Position, or just Person Positionof Elect Person for Positon or Elect Person Position but not "Vote for..."I wonder why the word vote is so unpopular?

I'm not voting for him, but I do like Augustus Cho’s signs. Especially the little ‘mini’ signs. The layout is simply so different they seem interesting.

You need to find a new improved Kleinschmidt sign with the endorsement tags added on. If you’d like a tag to add to any, let me know (I have some :-) )

 Amongst the town council signs, I like the design of Penny Rich, I think it is a lot more clever than the ‘Everyone Votes Raymond’ signs.
 
As far as school board, I think the Brownstein sign makes the best use of the space, only having what is really needed and good color and layout. Most of these signs are only seen by car as people rush by, so too much detail is invisible (such as in the Jim Merritt signs)

John Rees

 The branding works so well that even when you see the signs in a distance & the words are hard ot make out, you still know who that sign is for.

I've always liked Laurin's stars and layout. Very different and clever.

on their signs?

to make them picture perfect.

I was just curious if anybody would.

I think a couple of the signs shown above are notable.  I agree with John that the details on Jim Merritt's sign are difficult to read from a car, but Jim's sign is nonetheless notable because the details do actually tell us something about who he is (veteran, CH native etc.)  None of the other CHTC candidates' signs tell us anything really.  Esthetically, Gene Pease's design is appealing and I appreciate the play on words: Pease, peas.  Will Raymond's new generation signs have an attractive leaf theme on them, which has been a winner for Jim Ward, although I thought Will's leaf choice was interesting.  It's Liquidambar stryaciflua if I am not mistaken, commonly known as Sweetgum.  (Did I ever mention that my father was a Botany professor at NCSU?)  I assume that he's not trying to suggest that he will drop spiky balls all over town each fall:  The CH Mayoral candidates' signs are not as interesting.  Clearly neither Czajkowski nor Kleinschmidt are names that are made for this particular medium.  Thank god this is not a write-in only race.  Cho's name is perfect for yard signs and he seems to be taking good advantage of it.  Cho's content "Investing in Chapel Hill" seems strange to me - the voters are trying to choose a Mayor, not a bank.  But perhaps that slogan will appeal to some.  Czajkowski's slogan "A sensible choice" is not especially inspired, but it fits in well with the case he is trying to make to the voters.

Cho

I don't understand why "investing in Chapel Hill" is in quotes. 

I'm glad I'm not the only grammar nerd out there.  I don't think Cho is quoting anything.  I think it's another example of bad sign grammar.  Luckily they make stickers that you can carry with you to correct sign grammar:On another note, does anyone have a picture of Sammy Slade's hand painted signs?  They appeared early, before his regular signs, and are small.  I think they are adorable.  

Perhaps the quotes could be forgiven or ignored?

Augustus is the "poster" child of an American success story as an immigrant to the US . Great guy , I have enjoyed getting to know him through this process .

According to his website, Augustus came to America when he was 8 years old.  And although I have only spoken to him once or twice, as I recall he speaks English just as well as I do (maybe better).  But, the excessive use of quotation marks is just an American typographical tic.See http://www.unnecessaryquotes.com/In any case, I agree, Terri, I think the quote marks can be forgiven (and ignored).

I can assure you that my grammar post was not a jab at Cho's heritage.  OP seems to lose it's sense of humor around election time. I hereby promise not to post any more funny links or otherwise try to lighten the mood until after November 3rd.    

Don't you have to have thick skin to be a lawyer?

The transition from yoga instructor to lawyer has not always been a smooth one.  Fred, my future clients and I appreciate the role you have played in the thickening of my skin.  :) 

I didn't take your comments that way.

... "lose its sense of humor"....  :-D

offtopic of quoted phrases that don't quote anyone, or misplaed apostrephes, Tom Ellis, (Jesse Helms strategist) used to write a lot of the Congressional Club and Helms print ads and flyers, and used a lot of parentheticals which made it easy to recongnize his handiwork, such as:Jim Hunt (a Ted Kennedy liberal) will raise your taxes 

Good eye!  :)

I forgot to include the School Board (SB)  candidates.  These signs are all quite uninspired.  Joe Green's sign is the only one that tells us much of anything about him - because it mentions his PhD.  There are probably a lot of communities where advertising your PhD might work against you, but I think it makes sense in our community - particularly in the somewhat lower profile SB race.  The only other SB sign that tells us anything is Susana Dancy's.  Her picture does show that she is white, although I doubt that many voters would care about that one way or another.  While we are on the subject of photos, I notice that the other candidates with pictures on their signs are Jim Merritt and Kevin Wolff.  In Jim's case their might be some incremental value in indirectly underscoring that he is the only African-American on the Town Council.  Wolff's picture (as with all aspects of his numerous campaigns) are apparently calculated to make him a more recognizable figure in Chapel Hill - or that is the only sense I can make of his many, Quixotic electoral flounderings.

Last cycle, we discussed briefly that in another municipality (Davidson maybe) the candidates agreed that none of them would use signs.  At the time I thought it might be a good idea for environmental reasons but I've come to think the signs are key in reminding folks that it is time to pay attention.    I surely don't want folks to choose their candidates based on the signs but I'm thinking they remind them to start discussing the election and, hopefully, even do some research.    Mia Burroughs

maybe that's why so many of the candidates have signs which don't say anything -- they don't want to people to decide based on signs. On the other hand, I've been really confused by the mailers I've received.  They don't say anything either.   A bunch of bullet points about how everyone is "experienced" or "progressive".  Waste of paper and my VOE $ for sure (especially when my wife and I both get a copy).

Didn't see a single sign for any of the Carrboro mayor candidates when I drove the length of Homestead today.

I haven’t seen any either. Did the candidates agree to do as littlevisible campaigning as possible?  Is that an indication of activities as mayor?, an indicator ofcommitment? The incumbent spends a fair amount time gazing at Chapel Hillpolitics – what about us, here in Carrboro? jack haggerty

I figure there is no reason to start a sign war - if my opponents aren't putting signs up.

A solid choice.

I've noticed none of the signs are very slogany either.  Some of the color themes from the presidential race are still around, but most signs don't have slogans, or at least not ones that are designed to reveal anything about the candidate like everybody votes raymond (even if it does make the sign more memorable).  

  That attachment mentions the Sierra Club, UNC Young Dems,and Independent endorsements... but its a little blurry here in the pic that I found from someone uploading it on facebook.  But the attachment is pretty readable from the road which is something you have to worry about any time you're giving more details than a name, a position, and a website.

I have noticed a lot signs "chopped up" for lack of a better term. Are there laws to protect these?I don't think it was vandalism, just state lawnmowers

Blessings on the wag who has planted signs among the thicket at Franklin and Estes Dr. (may be elsewhere, haven't looked).  The sign urges "Vote NO!" and shows a sample set of boxes on a ballot with a check-mark under the "Yes" option.Thanks for the smile.

A friend noted to me that she dislikes the signs with pictures - Penny Rich's penny, Jon DeHart's heart, Gene Pease's peas.  While acknowledging that her daughter loves those kind of signs, she continues, "but she's 13 and can't vote!"Meanwhile, my mother-in-law dislikes Matt Czajkawski's signs because she thinks the background is too dark and ominous looking.  Hmmm. 

 

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