Signs 2009

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.

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

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

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

on their signs?

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.

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

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

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.