As reported last week in the Beacon Hill Times, commercial signage is popping up in windows and on the exterior of buildings throughout the neighborhood.
The culprits are real estate companies and construction companies.
Obviously, this practice, which is against the law, must come to a complete stop if the Hill is to remain the stately and special place that all of us know it to be.
The Beacon Hill Architectural Commission is absolutely right in reminding residents and business owners that exterior signs are not allowed.
We urge the BHAC to actively search out and to report on those building owners and contractors not abiding by the law, which was passed in 1955, which requires that all exterior changes visible from any public way must be approved in advance by the BHAC.
Beacon Hill Civic Association Director Suzanne Besser is correct in admonishing those who are not following the rules.
The BHCA’s protocol in this instance is to first inform the owner of the illegally posted sign to immediately remove it.
If the owner cannot be located or refuses to remove the signage, the BHCA then notifies the Architectural Commission of the violation.
Acquiescing to illegal signage on the Hill will lead to a further diminishment of the pristine local esthetic that has aided in keeping Beacon Hill virtually sign free.
If illegal signage is allowed, it will surely lead to the expansion of such behavior which could include garish political signage and in the end, signage of every kind, which would be a disaster for this neighborhood.
Signage violations must not be tolerated.
Action taken against those refusing to follow the law must be swift and direct.
Both the BHCA and the BHAC cannot afford to be anything less than zealous in scrupulously adhering to the signage law and imposing that standard on those straying from it.
Anything less gives the green light to a proliferation of signs.
And that would be a terrible step backward.