Last updated on 2016-08-22
Hey, what’s that new billboard up there by the Second Street* overpass?
I toss my camera to my backseat photographer, and she captures Aberdeen’s first political billboard of 2016:
South Dakota Farmers Union got this billboard up for its independent redistricting proposal on Monday, just in time to exhort Brown County Fairgoers to vote for fair elections. Nice tie-in, Team T! And check out those three Ts, progressing across the board in blue. That’s a fun little bit of design, following the perspective lines of passing drivers.
Aberdeen unconstitutionally prohibits political yard signs until September 9. Until then, we’ll have to look to higher ground for political messages.
*Time Warp Correction 2016.08.22 16:36 CDT: The original version of this post referred to the 281 overpass. Second Street through northern Aberdeen used to be U.S. Highway 281, but the bypass west of town now bears that official designation.
I pity the fool who doesn’t vote for Amendment T. :-)
On a more serious note, I recently drove around District 25 and traced the gerrymandered borders. What a tangled web the powers-that-be weaved to try to preserve their incumbent advantage. Tea for two and T for me and you!
“Aberdeen unconstitutionally prohibits political yard signs until September 9.”
I can’t speak to the constitutionality, but I wish our entire state would ban them entirely. Those cheap coroplast signs just clog up our landfills and are placed illegally in rights-of-way and boulevards each and every election cycle. Until we are able to hold the candidate responsible for the placement of their own signs, I don’t feel they should be given special treatment.
It is already against city rules to post signs selling a produce or service in residential property (exceptions are made for short-term yard sales or real estate signs), so why should politicians get special treatment? (I know they are the ones writing the rules so it isn’t hard to figure out why they are given a free pass on the subject)
Ah, Craig, it’s those exceptions that trigger my constitutional alarms. Certain favored business sectors are allowed to advertise their activities and services. Political groups are forbidden from putting up signs until 60 days before the election. Those are content-based rules, and content-based rules violate the First Amendment. If the city takes your position against cheap coroplast and bans all such signs, that’s fine. But the city can’t say, “You can say X but you can’t say Y.”
What catches my eye in that photo is how dusty that flower is in the Volkswagen bug.
Didn’t need no stink’ bud vase in my ’69 Bug. Didn’t need AC either. Or a defrost fan or heat. On really cold days I barely had any heat coming off the air cooled boxer engine. Franklin was it’s name and it was one of the best snow cars a guy could own. Traction was awesome with the rear mounted engine on a RWD car.
What’s that weed you are growing in the fresh airflow from your vent, and was it a camera you tossed into the back seat or a phone that can take pictures? There is a difference, Mr. H.
The Framers never imagined political advertising “as large as a ship’s sail”. They printed their signs one at a time on a cumbersome Single Shot press and could not have envisioned FULLY AUTOMATIC machines that spray 600 yard signs per minute. Senseless killing of our brain cells. 2,000 children per day have their critical thinking skills murdered by political advertising; when will it end? No civilian needs that high capacity speech, only the Police and Military.
Does the WTO allow yard signs? Their edicts are the actual measure of what’s left of the US Constitution.
If cities don’t want signs on right of way, they should mark them. In Winner, there are three different right of way distances in about a mile of highway. An officious secretary in the State Highway department removed signs that were several feet in yard side of sidewalk but still half in the right of way. They were of course Democratic signs and they almost immediately trashed them.
A few days of free speech and press with some smaller yard signs are not going to destroy property values or be a traffic hazard if placed correctly. Businesses have near permanent signs several feet into the right of way. No problem with that apparently. Enforcement depends on who you are and what you represent.
That highway sign is a mediocre design both for type placement, color and readability.
Its actually the 2nd St Overpass.
The 281 Overpass is 2 miles to the west.
Thanks, DR! I’ll clarify that… and I’m glad we’re all catching up after the Fair!