Wednesday, February 4, 2004

I opened the Mr. Transmission in Fayetteville in March 2003. The Fayetteville sign ordinance is anti-business.

First of all, the ordinance regarding banners as temporary signs is unrealistic. How can a business advertise any specials on a banner for 60 days? So in my case I wanted to put up a sign during our construction to advertise the coming of Mr. Transmission. It could only stay out for 30 days. Because if I wanted to advertise anything else I could only have the sign up for additional 30 days. Sixty days to advertise out of 365 days does not make much of advertising.

At one time I had two signs the size of a real-estate sign out near Glynn Street (Ga. Highway 85) and I was given a warning to take them down, that they were not allowed.

I think [City Manager Joe] Morton is giving lip service to Crumpton’s. I’ll bet the city will decline any special variance.

We are located at 278 North Glynn St. First of all we are not even on Glynn Street. I would like to put up another sign on the side of our building but the sign ordinance only allows us one sign on our building. In my opinion if the city was out to help business, they would make considerations, rather than giving out citations regarding a banner.

I would like to know if anybody has complained to the city about Crumpton’s banner. This is my first business and I thought that the city would have been very supportive of new business opening up. They were just the opposite.

When Mr. Morton said that the city went to great strides with the sign ordinance, they only looked at it from one side. I wonder how many business were involved in the decision-making process of the sign ordinance?

I think the city has forgotten that business make a city and if regulations like this one only allow a business to put up a banner for 60 days, we are going to find more business closing down. If we can only put out a banner temporary for 60 days and are very limited on the signage that we are allowed to put on our business, what do you think the city would suggest that we can do to advertise our business? As a business owner I hope that other Atlanta areas think twice about adopting an anti-business sign ordnance like the city of Fayetteville.

Robert Horgan

horganr@bellsouth.net