The City has contacted me
Wed, 04/25/2012 - 12:59 | 
knitting guy On Monday I got an email, followed by a phone call with Bill Harris who works for the city.
He was very nice, and said the city's hands were tied and they tried to find a way to keep them -- but they have to go.
Save the flowers! Councilmember Lorie Zapf is collecting emails of support at loriezapf@sandiego.gov to show community backing and find a way to keep them in Clairemont. Send her your story, and let her know how much you like them!
Someone started a petition.
Bill Harris gave me this statement to post:
The City is forced to announce that the Stop Sign Flowers must come down. Even with the great community spirit this effort has generated, there are just too many restrictions to overcome. City staff looked through state law and local policies trying to find some way of allowing the flowers to remain in place. Unfortunately, particularly with traffic control signs and including all other City assets, there is just no way to retain the works where they now are.
We hope that the flower-makers will work with other site owners – private businesses, other agencies, business improvement districts and community groups – to find new homes for the flowers. This is a fun program that should easily capture the imagination of our communities in other, less restricted, locations.
City crews will not remove any of the installations for the next ten days unless they become a hazard. It is hoped that those who originally installed the flowers will take that time to remove and preserve the work. Following the ten day period, City crews will be instructed to remove and dispose of anything affixed to City assets as it is seen or reported. The yarn and leaf structures cannot be saved when removed by City staff.
I will be available to answer specific questions about the City’s direction via email
Ask for a Variance?
With all the media coverage, you shouldn't have any trouble finding an attorney who is willing to help you for little or nothing.
They might be able to find a loophole or simply argue their way into convincing the right people.
If the City can't do it, maybe the County can.
Most of the muckity-mucks claim to be patrons of the arts.....
Social Media is the answer!
Create a Facebook page and an online petition to be sent to the city in support of the Stop Sign Flowers. Individual emails are great but people are more likely to sign an online petition than to write an email.
Petition
I found a petition online. http://www.change.org/petitions/the-city-of-san-diego-let-san-diego-keep...
The law
Unfortunatelly, the city is right, it is not legal to do anything to the traffic signs.
Notwithstanding, your project is beautiful and makes everyone feels good about it.
The only way out is to find out whether there is a legal solution for this or to adapt the project to other thing that is not public.
Anyway, my congratlations e respect for your good intentions,
Luiz Eduardo.
Keep them UP!
I don't know you or your organization...I only know that I love the Stop Sign Flowers and noticed them right away!! They are beautiful and unique and add an extra zest to the community. I just moved to S.D from L.A. to the Clairmont area and the flowers are so great!!!! I e-mailed the the woman who's e-mail that you left above :)
I hope it helps! Good luck!!
Other Towns
Firstly, I love these and only wish someone would do it in our town.
Secondly, modified stop signs aren't new. Many cities and municipitalities changed their signs to read "STOP...in the name of love." (Or other like-worded designs) All in an effort to make people think twice about stopping. This was just a few years ago. Those towns recorded good results too - the number of wrecks at those intersections decreased.
Do NOT Stop sign flowers
here's my email to the city-
Are you kidding me??? How are the stop sign flowers hurting anything? If anything they are making people actually STOP at the stop signs instead of rolling through as so many do. Please leave them alone. They are lovely. Who the heck is the one who even looked into taking them off in the 1st place??? Someone with way too much time on their hands and no spirit of beauty.
Give us a break. Leave those flowers alone!!!
Stop Sign Flowers
I have lived in San Diego all my life. I love this city. As a hard working mom of two that pays taxes and volunteers in my community it is very difficult for me to fathom the notion that these fantastic works of art "must" be removed. Why? Who exactly are these harming or impacting negatively? They actually improve the appearance of our community. I am proud and honored to have them in here. My children and I pass them every day when I drop them off to school and when we take evening walks. As a driver, I can tell you in no way are they "distracting" to me but rather a reason to smile and feel joy every time I pass one. These are not affecting the visibility or purpose of the sign in any way. As a taxpayer, I am so disappointed that this is wasting any of our time, funds and resources to bring them down for what appears to be no good reason at all.
Letter I have composed. Would like your comments, thoughts, etc
Dear Ms. Zapf and Mr. Harris,
I am writing this letter today to state my disapproval of the city's plans to remove the yarn from various stop signs around the Clairemont area.
Before writing this letter, I took some time to dig around on the internet for reasons why laws exist at all. It seems that the general consensus, regardless of path taken to arrive at the conclusion, is that laws exist in order to promote a sense of order. That is, without laws, our civilized society would be unable to exist because there would be no centralized guiding principles to prevent mass chaos due to the variances between individual's ideas of what is right and what is wrong. Here is a link to the best web site I found explaining the 5 major categories for why laws exist:
http://civilliberty.about.com/od/historyprofiles/tp/Why-Laws-Exist.htm
It seems logical, then, to next explore which of these categories, if any, can be applied as justification for why the city's resources should be expended to remove the yarn.
And the simple response is that none of them can. There is no good reason why the yarn should be removed. It's not endangering anyone. It's not affecting traffic. It's not offending anyone's morals.
So while the letter of the law regarding vandalism and graffiti may indeed support the need to remove the yarn, the spirit of the law does not.
As a resident of Clairemont, I would much rather see the city's resources spent on enforcing laws that actually do violate both the letter and the spirit of the law. As an example, near my home, at the intersection of Conrad Avenue and Limerick Avenue, there is a 4-way stop sign that is regularly abused, and often times completely ignored. It is rare that people actually come to a complete stop. Most slow down (although some barely slow at all), but it is not uncommon to see people blow through the intersection at extremely dangerous speeds.
To put it completely succinctly, lets stop focusing on the minutiae that have zero negative impact and start dealing with the things that really do matter. If a person doesn't like the yarn, let them remove it himself. For the city to spend another moment dealing with something this inconsequential is both a travesty and an injustice. And at risk of being circular, I'd rather see the resources spent on eradicating whimsical abuses of governmental policy, like this one, than on removing some innocuous yarn that only serve to brighten a bleak necessity of modern transportation.
I think you
I think you put it all nicely in your letter and made very good points. Nobody was harmed in this. No accidents have been filed as a result of the stop sign flowers and nobodys morals were compromised. I don't think there are anything in the laws that state that yarn cannot be applied to a street pole and because you were going to maintain the flowers, I don't think they would have ever been considered a victim of pollution in our oceans.
Here is my letter:
This letter is about a urban art project in the Clairemont area that took bloom on stop sign poles over a month ago. Apprently they have to be taken down, but I would like for them to stay! I am seriously saddend by this. This first time I saw one of these flowers, it made me smile. I parked, got out, took a picture, and showed all of my friends. I know many others in the community enjoy the flowers and would be incredibly disappointed to see them go. After meeting up with Knitting Guy and installing numerous of these flowers with him, there was a large response from people walking/driving by that would stop and thanking us for the flowers and comment on how much they enjoyed them.
I found them to be very positive for the city! They improve sidewalk aesthetics, promote culture, and discourages vandalism. They are not an eyesore and it is just fun neighborhood art. I disagree that they are a distraction from the sign itself because if anything, they make people do what the sign is intended to do: STOP, and in this case smile. The yarn is wrapped around the pole, so the sign is still clearly visible. Another positive is that yarn is a temporary medium and only lasts a year. Unlike paint, the removal of these flowers cost nothing because removing them is as easy as a snip of scissors.
I believe that if the city can make it so that utility boxes and large murals can be painted as a beautification project, then there has to be a way that they can make it so these flowers can remain, possibly with a permit from the city. If there are any future councils on this, I would like to attend. I support this project and it really means a lot to me that they stay!
Carry on Knitting!
Dear Knitting Guy,
I'm sorry to hear that your flowers might have to come down. They seemed like a brilliant collaborative project to me that have brought a lot of smiles to your community. I hope you're not discouraged and will carry on with new iknitiatives.
Best wishes,
A crocheter.
stop sign flowers are a delight to see
That's a real shame. These are a delight to see. I hope a way can be found to leave them in place. it's such a small thing, with such a big positive response. A far better use of city staff time would be to trim the overgrown trees that block so many of the stop signs from sight.
Sad News
That's sad news to hear.. These have been a nice, beautiful addition to the streets of Clairemont. They brighten my day!
My letter of rage
RE: STOP SIGN FLOWERS
I cannot believe that the city that I love, live and help support with my taxes would be so stuck up. A few pieces of yarn that bring so much joy to so many people must be removed? How ridiculous! Not only to I object to the city's lack of appreciation for a "Green" and human touch, but I want my tax dollars spent on more important issues.
Three weeks ago I broke my 5th metatarsal by walking on a city sidewalk on Adams Avenue. The sidewalk is in a complete DISASTER!! I will now be laid up for 13 weeks thanks to the neglect of the city. So now they are going to use my taxes to pay employees to unravel stop signs???? FIX THE DAMNED STREETS AND SIDEWALKS!!!!!!!
Furious in Clairemont,
Patricia Hoffman
Flowers not just in Clairemont!
The stop sign flowers are not limited to Clairemont. There is at least one in another part of the City. I won't say where because I don't want it to come down. Keep the Stop Sign Flowers!
Maybe you should move them from the mapped locations and scatter them around the City but don't map them. Good luck. I sent a letter of support to Lorie Zapf.
email sent
This is such garbage! Of all the things they choose to pick on! Those flowers have helped brighten our community.
Noooo!
well yes, of course. too many lawyers. 'tis a pity!
Lawyers?
What does this have to do with lawyers? THese flower stems are awesome and since I am studying to be a lawyer, it interests me in finding a law (or not) that says we cannot keep them. I bet you I won't be able to find one. Not even the graffitti laws apply because what was done to these signs was not a form of defacing them! Law my butt!
Anon. Clairemont dweller!
Email is sent
I have sent Lorie an email, and I'll repeat what I said there. "Too many restrictions is a cop-out."
This is America's Finest City. You'd think they could foster and encourage this kind of community spirit.
Perhaps our City Council representatives could spend some of the city's time and money on eliminating restrictions, rather than taking down attractive and harmless art.
Bureaucracy at its finest
Give me one logical reason why art on stop signs could create a problem and we'll talk. Best of luck keeping up your masterpieces (and they really are). If you have to remove them, maybe we can engage in a little guerrilla art!
NO WAY
With all the graffiti scribbled,scratched or sprayed!!!! WHY does something so nice looking have to come DOWN??????? Lorraine
Sickers and paint
If they are going to pull off the flowers, they had better also remove the stickers, paint, and dried on egg on my local signs.