The Boston City Council voted last week to repeal the permit requirement for free-standing, sidewalk signs. The new 1-year pilot Sandwich Board Sign Ordinance was recently proposed by Mayor Walsh.
“Sandwich board signs are significant marketing tools for small and local businesses, which are a critical part of the economy in the City of Boston and which my Administration is strongly committed to supporting,” said Walsh in a memo to the City Council.
Businesses no longer need a city permit to place free-standing sandwich boards on public sidewalks. Existing regulations for sidewalks to be accessible for pedestrians will still apply.
Signs can be up to 24″ x 36″ in size and must have the phone number of the business. Displayed content is limited to goods for sale, excluding alcohol or tobacco (ed: what about Free Brady type signs?).
The City Council discussed restricting the total clutter of signs per building on busy main streets such as Newbury and Hanover. However, a proposed amendment for that failed. All City Councilors voted in favor of the ordinance, except Back Bay’s Councilor Zakim who proposed the aforementioned clutter amendment.
When will the council and the mayor spend time on the astounding homeless population and public drug dealing?
Probably at the same time people stay on topic 🙂
It’s okay though. Small businesses can finally their sandwich board signs without permit. Too bad the lack of parking to allow customers access to Boston’s small businesses is still apparent.
“For visitors, there are over 7,500 parking spaces at local parking lots and garages within a very short walking distance from Hanover Street or anywhere else in the neighborhood”. the problem is people are too lazy to walk a few blocks and want to park right in front of the store or restaurant.
http://www.northendboston.com/park/
“136 Blackstone Street, Boston (Enter on New Sudbury Street)
There is validated* parking for visitors to the North End at the Parcel 7 parking garage, located on the corner of New Sudbury Street and Congress Street. Enter on New Sudbury Street next to the Haymarket “T” entrance.
Validated parking tickets are good for $1 for up to 2 hours of parking, and $3 for up to 3 hours of parking. If you park for longer than 3 hours, the validation is void and regular rates apply.”