From: "Hew Hamilton" <hew@pineapplegallery.com>
To: <mayorprice@charter.net>
Sent: Monday, July 01, 2002 10:29 PM
Subject: illegal signs

The Seafood Festival has placed signs illegally on public property.
There are two on Hwy 190 neutral ground near Kmart. These will no doubt
multiply as the fest nears. There have been many placed illegally
outside of the city limits and these have been reported to the Parish
code enforcement department and to Constable Richard Moore. As a
"supporter" of the Festival, the City of Mandeville should require that
all applicable laws be followed as a basic requirement for the festival
to continue to operate. By ignoring laws that all other businesses have
to follow, the organizers are being rewarded for siphoning local dollars
away from local businesses.

Along the same line, there are many illegal signs stapled to telephone
poles in the Gerard - 190 area. One garage sale sign has been up for
almost a month now! It's hard for KMB to tackle the litter problem, if
the illegal sign problem (where the violator supplies his name or
address!) is ignored.

Hew Hamilton
626-0028

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hew,
got your e-mail today.sorry i could not have responded sooner but my
mother had a massive stroke monday night and i have been out of pocket since
then. i will be in and out for the next month or so until my mom becomes
stable enough to come home but i have alerted the building department of
your e-mail and expect those "snipe" signs to be removed.philosophically,
the city has endorsed the seafood fest but that does not mean that we ignore
the laws that are applicable for their operation. they should be made to
adhere just as anyone else and to date the city has picked up over 20 fest
signs. i do disagree however, that the fest siphons money from local
business. i believe that it attracts customers to local business.regarding
signage , i would love for kmb to tackle the sign problem, if they believe
that signage is a part of "litter abatement". although, i don't believe this
to be a function of kmb it may be something we want to look at in the
future. finally, and please don't take this the wrong way, when i read or
hear the word ignored mentioned two or three times it leads me to believe
that you think we go out of our way to bypass/close an eye to illegal
signage in our community and that is not representative of what i believe as
mayor. we have been in the forfront of growth, asthetics, infrastructure and
signage. we, in most cases , adopt the ordinances that control the above and
then other communities follow suit. we, started the 1st doc program in this
parish in an effort to tackle the litter problem.kmb started after that.
enforcement of the law is integral to any law that is created and we try
hard to make sure people comply.with limited empoyees, however, we do the
best we can. when notified of a complaint we get to it quickly. when we
don't get notified we have to visibly see the problem before it can be
addressed. please call me at 626-1082 or 264-7200 if this does not answer
your questions. eddie

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Subject:
Re: illegal signs
Date:
Thu, 04 Jul 2002 23:48:39 -0500
From:
Hew Hamilton <hew@pineapplegallery.com>
To:
Eddie Price <mayorprice@charter.net>, lkiddplandir@charter.net
References:
1 , 2

Mr Price,

Sorry to hear about your mom. We wish you and her family well in her recovery.

Regarding the signs I reported to you on Monday, I also sent the same email to the planning department,
lkiddplandir@charter.net, notifying them of the location of the signs I saw. The three signs were still in place in front
of Kmart this morning (Thursday). I also noticed two signs on East Causeway approach, 100 yards west of City hall
and one 200 yards east of City Hall! Kind of hard for the enforcement guys to miss those this morning as they came to
work. There were also two on 190 at Jackson Ave. The 6 others I have seen are outside of the city limits, but just as
illegal. I have always had quick action when I have notified them of violations in the past, but with the Seafood Fest,
is seems like foot dragging, hence my use of the word "ignore". Maybe the explaination is that they do not check
email often. I will use the phone Friday morning.

I object to public employees having to take the time to remove these signs in a timely manner. If they are allowed to
remain until Monday, they have served their purpose, and you are doing the festival organizers a favor by removing
them so they don't have to! A single phone call to the promoter advising him of the law, and the threat of permit
revocation if they are not removed by the evening, and never go up again, should be all that is needed.

My prediction -- the signs may be removed, at the city's expense, by Friday evening, but they will be back in place
Saturday morning and remain until Sunday evening. The promoters know how it works. With no punishment, there is
no incentive to obey the law.

Please check out my web site on the parish wide problem.

Hew Hamilton
626-0028