SIGNS

"Lift ye up a banner upon the high mountain," (from Isaiah 13:2)

Our church receives lots of mail, especially catalogs. I think the catalogs that I especially enjoy looking at are catalogs advertising church signs. There are some amazing church signs available today. Many are very large and well lighted with all sorts of modern electronic features. Some "mega churches" in other parts of the country feature all sorts of signage...flashing electronic "crawls" telling of special events and speakers... electronic images which change from a flag to an image of Jesus, and then to the church name and information. No matter what large, fancy, impressive, state-of-the-art church sign you can think of, it's available if you can afford to pay for it. But not in Framingham.

Framingham's famous "sign by-law" has been the subject of a couple of newspaper stories this week. Framingham businessman Boris Kanieff has been fined $3900. for his signs at his car wash/gas station/oil change shop on Hollis St. in downtown Framingham. Boris Kanieff has been one of downtown Framingham's best friends. Back in the 1990s when the original "Downtown Solutions" civic group was formed, he was a mainstay at the meetings, full of passion for downtown revitalization. A few weeks ago I came across a 12-year-old program running on Framingham's public access cable channel which featured Boris Kanieff and another activist sharting their visions of what downtown Framingham could be. It was around that time that he suffered a stroke and some health issues, but he rebounded and went right back to work trying to make downtown Framingham a better place. He has done an outstanding job. And, what's his thanks from the Town of Framingham? Thousands of dollars owed in fines due to what I believe is an unreasonable and anti-business sign law.

Now, back to the churches. It's true there are no "mega churches" in Framingham, and so no church would be likely to want one of those type signs I describe above. However, many of Framingham's present churches are not happy with the Town's sign policies. I know of one Protestant church which was required to cut the electricity to their attractive illuminated sign. So the sign's still there in front of the church, but at night nobody can see it! Another church, located in an "off the beaten path" location wanted to have a directional sign on a main road to help people find their church. That was not possible. In fact, there used to be a number of small directional signs you'd see on telephone poles which would list a church name and give a directional arrow to help people find the church. Those are all pretty much gone from Framingham,

I noticed recently that the old WalMart sign at Route 30 and Caldor Rd. has been "blacked out". If somebody from outside of Framingham is driving around Route 30 looking for the back road to WalMart I guess Framingham's response is "Oh, tough luck!" as the late Larry Glick used to say. Ironically, channel 25 recently ran a story about how the Commonwealth of Massachusetts is spending a lot of money to put up LARGE easy to read exterior signs at the State House and other State facilities to make things easier for the public. You may also notice that over the past fifteen years, the state has been making those black and white Route number signs on highways LARGER so driver can easily read them. My daughter Rachel is a student at Westflied State College, and I can report that the State has essentially "gone crazy" putting up signs there including a large electronic informational sign. Channel 25's beef was that this is no time to be spending tax payer's money with such a serious recession going on. They have a valid point. If private businesses want to spend the money to put up signs to help their business, however, I say that should be ENCOURAGED.

My other daugther Amy is an R.N. at the medical center in Springfield, Missouri. I'm familiar with the Springfield/Branson area of Missouri not only from going out there to visit her, but because I attended Bible College there in the 1970s. If there are sign by-laws and regulations out there, they can't be very strict. There are signs of all sizes and shapes all over Springfield, and especially all over Branson. (You may not know that Branson has become a huge tourist attraction. It's called the "new Nashville" and "a family version of Las Vegas".) There are restaurants, hotels, and business all over the place. Out there, you've also got mega churches and all sorts of other churches. They've got signs, too! I think a lot of them ordered from those fancy sign catalogs! Is that area of the country "blighted" or "ruined"? Hardly! That area is growing by leaps and bounds. New homes and shopping centers are going up all over the place, Despite the growth and development, you can drive ten minutes outside of either Springfield or Branson and see some of the most beautiful, unspoiled country in the midwest. People are flocking there and people are leaving Massachusetts. When are we going to wake up?

When I think of large, bright, flashing signs, I think of BUSINESS and I think of SUCCESS. Framingham needs business and success! Do you really think it would be a terrible thing if Framingham, especially downtown Framingham, was packed with stores, hotels, restaurants, and gas stations and car washes, all featuring large, captivating electronic signs? It would be great! People wring their hands wondering how we can afford so many social services in Town such as S.M.O.C. Listen the tax revenue coming in so that we can afford a lot of non-profit social services in Town should not be on the backs of poor elderly homeowners. It should be coming from businesses. We should have SO many thriving businesses in Framingham that generate so much revenue that having a bunch of social service agencies in Town is not a big problem!

If Framingham DOES scrap the sign by-law some day I don't know how it will address businesses who DID comply with it such as Monnick Supply. They had to replace a perfectly good large and easy-to-read sign with a smaller, less sensible version at great expense to them just to comply. But I fully support Boris Kanieff and other business owners (and pastors and churches) who are fed up with Framingham's excessive and oppressive sign by-law. Let's get rid of it! Again, let's wake up!