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I've limited my sign posting to locations where residents and/or business owners give me permission to hang signs - given resources, the effort has been limited. There won't be any signs posted on poles from my campaign. It's political graffiti.

Back to pounding that pavement!

Thank you Derek. You are a gentleman and a tribute to my alma matter. Hail Tilden high...or what's left of it.
Lew from Brooklyn

Given the high sentiment, it was always my intention to remove all remaining posters after the election, which should be easy since 90% were hung by me, and most are already gone. I will retrace my steps Tuesday evening and happily remove every single one. If any remain on Wednesday, feel free to criticize or notify me personally through my email or phone number, which is on my website. If anyone would like a souvenir poster, I will be happy to deliver one free of charge.

Derek - Actually, its not just affluent people that find these things appalling. Some people stay poor because they do follow the rules of a society. Many such people have pride and its a matter of honor to them.

Even a capitalist society has laws that preclude businesses from engaging in various practices. There was a time when restrictions were few. We had child labor back then, dangerous products being sold without warning, rampant misrepresentation of the various qualities of goods and services, and corporate combinations that led to price gouging and other unsavory practices.

Keep in mind that legitimate moving companies are licensed and therefore, at least theoretically accountable. The individual who engages a non-licensed company is running a higher risk of damage to their property. Many times these operations change their numbers and company names so that those running them can't be easily found.

Someone who is putting up thousands of posters isn't looking to make a basic living. In fact it is conceivable that the poster is a legitimate business that wishes to appear as if they are providing a discounted service. As no company name is given, who knows.

Derek,
Obviously we continue to disagree on postering.
Today, I saw your campaign poster affixed to a pole on Nostrand Avenue. Given your philosphy on this, I am neither surprised, and I am surely not "upset". But what I would ask you to do is this: After the polls close, would you arrange to have all of your posters removed and disposed of properly? That would be the public spirited thing to do. I commend Gene for not postering thus far. I did not print posters and when I have in previous efforts, they only went in store windows. (I figured someone might ask...)

Fair is fair. I know you have limited resources for getting your message out. And while I don't like any medium like this which is illegal, I understand your use of it. but can we ask you to clean up after yourself?

Lew from Brooklyn

PS Good luck tomorrow.

I suppose everyone's mind is made up on this issue, but I continue my mantra: Show sensitivity. Be aware that many people NEED to do whatever they can to survive, and for them postering is a matter of survival, not of aesthetics. If perhaps a successful business grows from street advertising, then big deal. More power to them. This is a capitalist country, isn't it? Why must we be so rigid? Why are people so concerned about minutia that we put it into law? The election, I'm sure, will be decided by those affluent enough not to see it my way.

Here in Sheepshead Bay we have a individual plastering every available surface with their ads for moving services. Every block here has scores of these ads. they are secured in such a way so as to make their removal difficult. This does not appear to me to be the work of some poor struggling person. Rather, there is an aggressive entrepreneurial mind at work here.

For some reason this reminds me of one of my favorite Yogi Berra quotes. Asked what he would do if he found a million dollars he replied "I'd find the guy who lost it. And if he was poor I'd return it." The assumption is that postering provides these people with their livelihood. What if every business decided that postering was the means of getting business? What happens when they run out of space on the telephone and traffic poles?

Then there are the campaign workers of our Mayor, who are engaging in similar practices in some places. They should have been told where they can put these things and where they can't.

Maybe we should fine the mayor. Especially since he believes that fining us for engaging in behavior unacceptable to him is for the good of society. As an example, he doesn't want anyone feeding the birds. i mean, any kind of bird. I'm amazed that they haven't gone after the supermarkets that sell large bags of bird feed. They're not being used to feed the family canary.

Birds are aesthetically good for our environment. So are squirrels. Possums eat vermin. We could live without raccoons though, I haven't seen any myself but others I know have. Raccoons are destructive, and harm other animals.

Our tolerances have limits.

As I wrote earlier in this thread, public bulletin boards could be set up to allow small businesses to promote themselves. Thusly people seeking services would read the ads. In the meantime, I shall be removing every ad I see posted on a pole. As should all responsible people. The number of these thing is so out of control that one person can't eliminate all of them. I know its like attempting the drinking the ocean, these signs will reappear quickly, but it better than merely complaining.

Posters and billboards to many people do equate with visual pollution. I'm going to go out on a limb here and say that those who are bothered by street advertising are neither those who utilize it nor those who respond to it.

I am in no way discounting the negatives of postering. It may be easy for many of us to be angry and dismissive about the advertisements placed on our cars, poles, and front gates. Weigh the inconvenience of picking up stray papers or the "ugliness" of a telephone pole covered with signs against the need to connect people with skills with those who need their services. For some that is their livelihood. Weigh the seconds it takes to discard unwanted papers against the need of some people to compare prices, clip coupons, or get cut-rate repairs. In my calculation, the latter is a more important concern, and the former is comparatively petty. Without on-street advertising as well as leafletting, the only way a "little guy" can get established is by joining up as an employee of a major outfit. This route offers far less chance of independence.

Surely the three of us candidates, and many people reading this blog have reached a point in life, largely due to the degrees we hold and years of work, where we no longer need to "hustle" as much for an extra dollar or two, nor cut corners as much in order to save money. Furthermore, I'm sure the occasional fine would not devastate any one of us. But years ago, this was not the case for me.

However, I realized that I because I had certain advantages which many did not in this City, I was better able than the majority to pull myself out of financial hardship. At that time, I vowed that if I ever was in a position to speak out for those people who struggle to better their situation and are handicapped by City fines and regulations, I would do so in whatever capacity I could. Such people often work until they drop, and have little time to get involved in politics or reach out to their elected officials. They probably lack the means to craft defenses to violations with which they are charged. More likely than not, the people for whom I am advocating are not reading this, and will likely not vote (if they are even eligible). Regardless, I will continue to speak out on their behalf.

As far as parking tickets are concerned, I continue to attack their overall premise. Alternate side parking regulations are a money-making scam. The same gutter which must be accessible to the sweeper is the gutter for which the adjacent property owner is forcibly made responsible. Fine the homeowner for garbage in the gutter. Fine the driver for oversleeping and not moving the car. Pay for sweeping out of our tax dollars. How much garbage is there, really? Much of the district, sections of the 50s in particular, have NO alternate side parking regulations. Contrary to the what you would expect, the streets are tidy and well-kept, not festering dumps, owing to the fact that the amount of trash which falls in the gutter is more than manageable for the residents to clean at their convenience.

Maybe it's my American Ego talking but The Romans built the Aqueducts, those have lasted thousands of years.
The native people of South America (I think in Peru?) built underground aqueducts that are also in use today.

Relatively simple (by technological standards) civilizations used nothing but math and manual labor to build the most incredible things.

We've got Modern Technology, Advanced Mathematics, Futuristic Metal Alloys, the mental brain power of 6 billion people on the planet. For anybody to claim that we CAN'T achieve any of these things is plain ludicrous. We've seen more technological and scientific advancement in the last 100 years then in the entire history of the human race. What is that? 60,000 years?

What's Obama fond of saying? Yes We Can?

Any reasonably educated person should have a "true" understanding of the difference between the MTA and Dollar Vans. It's an issue of scale. Now, granted, when we get into the specifics of economics vs macroeconomics or microeconomics or whatever I know diddly, but it's fairly easy to see that the MTA is a raging river and Dollar Vans are a little creek somewhere far up stream.

Dollar Vans aren't the only ones who operate without insurance. Car Services do it too. Not just without insurance but without licenses.

Which brings me to another point. Is it just me or does it seem like every single city agency is filled to the brim with middle management. People pulling between 50-100k a year to "supervise" and "manage" or "audit" just about everything in site. When the "grunts" the people that are supposed to be out and about the eyes and ears, the actual hand of the city are slowly being fired off.

Aonther quick tangent. Robert Moses made this city what it is today with money given to the city over a 30-40 year period by the New Deal and other programs. For good or ill, despite any past controversy nobody can deny that. Some of those projects are starting to fall apart. Today we've got Obama and the Stimulus package. This city needs to get every cent it could get to replace bridges and highways and finish the 2nd ave train tunnel and everything else.

Woo! Another rant on city mismanagement brought to you by Arthur!

Arthur, I agree with almost every word of that....though I think expecting infrastructure to last 200 years is, well, do you think that the folks in 1809 could have ever foreseen our system today?

But you do seem to have true understanding of the MTA and the Dollar Van issue. BTW, how many dollar vans operate without insurance?

Lew from Brooklyn

Dollar Vans: I think comparing these guys to the MTA is not really appropriate. They don't work on the same scale. They don't have the same overhead. Most of the guys driving them are "independent contractors" the same way most of us Car Service guys are. They don't get pensions or medical insurance, they dont have a union fighting for vacation days and perks.

From a certain point of view these guys work under Draconian Conditions compared to the TWU.

If a certain route is not profitable then there wont be a dollar van on it. The MTA has to service the city and its citizens profit or not right? It runs routes that lose money but still run because of other revenue streams. The MTA is not just funded by fares, but by taxes, government grants and fees and tolls.

None of that applies to these dollar vans. Their sole purpose is to undercut the MTA and Car Services by running a single route over and over and over. Do they provide a service, yes, do they provide a legitimate service, well thats up for discussion.

People keep saying the MTA has to do a better job but its not just the MTA. It's the city and state government. It's us too. We're failing ourselves.

A real solution for the MTA would be for some auditor or group of auditors to deconstruct the entire system and business. What generates a profit. What doesnt? What positions are not needed or can be folded into other positions. If you combine two jobs, and give that worker slightly higher pay to compensate you're saving money because you only have to pay one set of benefits and taxes. What lines routes and lines can be altered or moved? Which ones are 100% needed for the good of the city and which are only for the good of one neighborhood.

Excuse my language but the entire MTA system is a cluster fuck of over 150 years of patchwork. New York City is not Coruscant. It's not some sci-fi fantasy land. At some point the entire thing needs to be replaced, wholesale.

In the end we need to take a major step back and take a look at the big picture. For some reason whenever someone in this city builds infrastructure they can't seem to look more then 20-30 years in the future. We need to start building things that are designed to last 200 years or more, and designed to be replaceable with the utmost of ease.

My 2 cents

Dollar vans: Proof positive the MTA must do a better job.

Parking tickets: everyone is above average and is treated unfairly. There seems always to be mitigating circumstnaces.

ALL public postings, graffiti, legal billboards = visual pollution. Everybody wants their 15 minutes of fame but when is enough is enough?

Scrap Metal Collection: Proof positive the Sanitation Dept. must do a better job. There is an obvious need to move our garbage at a faster pace. Maybe the geniuses laid off from Wall St can figure it out.

I usually take photos of Halloween decorations but what I saw this year didn't inspire me. I only found one or two that were unexpected.

So I'm looking forward to seeing the pictures.

Hey Lisanne, I'll try to get some pictures up soon - camera's not working, so my sis took pics on her Sidekick - won't be the best res.

I'll see what I can do!

We've never discussed dollar vans, but have certainly discussed postering. And then there was the would be council candidate from the 48th distriict, Simon Belsky, whose involvement in politics was precipitated by a parking tickets. Metal collecting is also new to these pages, though we have covered the plight of metal shopping carts.

Blogs have become the vox populi more than any previous media. The days of the soapbox orator is long gone, but for each one of them there are ten bloggers today, each of whom have a dedicated and often vocal following.

Sometimes I believe that the future has worked out rater nicely.

Maybe Gene will take a picture of his house, which he has decorated for Halloween. I would have photographed it, but I don't know precisely where it is.

People are online debating about:

1. Dollar Vans
2. Parking Tickets
3. Postering
4. Scrap Metal Collection

I've already succeeded beyond my initial expectations.

Lisanne I think that is a wonderful, SIMPLE solution to this debacle

I sincerely doubt that the courts would like to sift through photographic evidence of thousands of signs. Because some of these posters have placed signs on literally thousands of poles. So if we actually followed this rule to the letter, and did the work to document these, the fines could be even higher.

But city employees will not take this time. And a fine of $100 is not an effective deterrent.

And part of the function of civil penalties is that they are meant to curb "unacceptable" behavior.

Maybe we need public billboards where moving companies and other pole posters can put up their signs without creating an unmanageable eyesore.

Lisanne!:
How about we increase enforcement of posting violations and reduce the fine from a crippling $150 to an annoying, proportional, but manageable $1 a sign. Therefore and individual or business who plasters a neighborhood gets perhaps a $1000 fine to more than pay for the eventual cleanup, but likely gets one or two jobs out of it, offsetting the cost and creating a legacy of referrals.

Arthur:

Why I am here at all is because it is the most forceful way I can show outrage about the kind of things you are talking about. My frustration for years was how useless it was to send angry letters and emails. This last few months as a candidate, I met plenty of people who agreed with me on most issues, but who admitted that they didn't vote. I met other people who were very forceful about their viewpoints and I asked them to appear in my videos. They refused.

People are scared, frustrated, disenfranchised, and for whatever reason, JUST DON'T FOLLOW THROUGH. Politicians would respond if people massively took their anger to their offices, and to the streets, in a loud visible way. Councilman Fidler said it: voter turnout is very, very, low.

Whatever happens Tuesday, I will continue to make as much noise as I can on behalf of people who feel shafted by the City. But I'd be FAR more effective with an active, vocal group of people who feel the same way.