Community opinion ignored by Town Council decision to maintain poster ban

Response to 11/11/02 Town Council vote

A couple months ago, it looked like the Chapel Hill Town Council was going to take sensible action on this issue and revise the outdated poster ban.

Now, they've decided to do nothing. I'm not sure what changed their minds, and I would hope it had nothing to do with pressure from Duke Power.

I'd like to think that the voices and wishes of the community speak louder than a big corporation when it comes to deciding town issues. Maybe I'm just naive.

Most people are flabbergasted to learn that this law exists to begin with. We collected 1200 signatures on a petition to change the law without breaking a sweat. I think the vast majority of residents in Chapel Hill, if asked, would agree that the town has better things to spend our tax dollars on than arresting people for putting up flyers, and tearing people's posters down daily. All we're asking is that they let people's posters stay up for a week at a time, which would save the town money. Would that be so terrible?

So at some point, I would hope the Council re-visits this issue and does the common sense thing by reversing its decision.