Life in the fast lane...

Things are changing.

Part of me acknowledges the fact that people don't like change. Well, most normal people don't like change. It is upsetting to see things that were one way morph to become something new. Some changes are more welcome than others - the Park will be a very nice addition to the City's landscape, and the Sonic seems to be pretty popular. Others, conversely, are not as welcome - the addition of the apartment complex south of the Thrif-Tee seems to be unpopular. I have written about my personal feelings on that, so I won't beat that proverbial dead horse.

Some changes people would like to see. A major grocery store out our way would be nice, and some nice restaurants would be welcome also. Ironically, while these things may be popular they will never happen unless the local population reaches a sufficient level to justify them. So the apartments may actually help in our reach for some of the other amenities.

The sign ordinance was changed last night. We have a pretty strict sign ordinance in the City, one that is robust while being fair. People have a right to put up signs to promote their businesses, and the City's ability to restrict what the signs actually say is limited under the first amendment rights of free speech guaranteed by the Constitution. That's fine - the City doesn't want to get involved with that kind of regulation anyway. But the size of the signs, the number of signs on a property, etc - yes, we are interested in seeing that things are kept clean and orderly, with little distraction to drivers while still allowing businesses to conduct their business...

One of the things that we have seen more of is a desire to incorporate LED technology into signs via electronic reader boards. Early reader boards that were seen around the City, and the only ones legal under the previous ordinance, were the old-fashioned hard plastic style movable letter type of signs. These are cumbersome to maintain, difficult to change the copy, and susceptible to weather damage and vandalism. The City has granted several variances for reader panels in the past, so the time seemed ripe to change the ordinance to allow them.

I have a copy of the new changes to the ordinance if you would like to see them.

The point is that this is the democratic process at work. It was not a slam-dunk deal: there was a pretty good debate for some time last night. But in the end, the majority voted for the revisions to the ordinance. It proves that the process works as it is supposed to.

Nothing is static. Everything is in constant motion and flux. As the ancient Greek philosopher said - you cannot step into the same stream twice.