Sign language
discouraged

By Lauren Fritsky
Times Staff Writer

Cruise past a telephone pole at the corner of Woodhaven and Thornton roads, and you can find out how to sell your house, get cheap dental insurance and trade in your jewelry for cash.
Another pole at Byberry and Evans invites you to "come grow" with Fellowship Bible Church and donate your car.
City Controller Alan Butkovitz says commercial signs like these add blight to the community. What’s more, they’re illegal under a city ordinance that he says the Department of Licenses and Inspections repeatedly fails to enforce.
"It labels neighborhoods just as graffiti does," Butkovitz said. "It junks it up. It’s one of those early signs of decay."
On Aug. 15, he presented his findings from a 10-day investigation during which he collected 1,200 signs plastered on utility and street light poles in nearly every section of the city. Had L&I fined those sign-posters alone — violations cost $75 per sign — the city could have pocketed $90,000, Butkovitz said.
The Northeast, along with the North Central and Southwest sections of the city, contained the highest concentration of signs. Here, most were found in Frankford, Fox Chase and Torresdale. Of all the signs collected, the most common type of service advertised was housing.
To scrap the signs, Butkovitz proposes enforcing the city sign ordinance, getting more manpower into L&I and hiking the fine for each sign from $75 to $300.
Better monitoring of the signs can be as simple as enlisting other city workers, like trash collectors, who already go out into the community.
"We can use what we already have," said Butkovitz, who lives in the Northeast.
Calls to L&I Commissioner Robert Solvibile were not returned as the Times went to press.
To further help with the paper chase, Butkovitz wants to educate the public about the signs, report code violators to the Department of Revenue and consider soliciting funding from utility companies to aid the city and community groups in removing the signs.
Local resident Margaret Philippi began taking it upon herself to remove illegal signs from the Northeast in December. As of Aug. 14, she’d collected and documented information on 975 signs, which would have added up to $73,125 had the people who posted them been fined. Philippi even uses a pruning pole to remove signs posted too high.
Phillipi said that she, like Butkovitz, would like a better procedure for reporting and removing the signs and fining the companies behind them.
"The appearance of my community is important, and I refuse to stand by and do nothing," she said. ••
Reporter Lauren Fritsky can be reached at 215-354-3038 or lfritsky@phillynews.com