Weekend Code Compliance Officer Finally Removes Snipe-Signs that have been up all week – Photo was taken April 14, 2012
By: Sharon Aron Baron
If it’s Monday and you need unsightly snipe-signs removed from your neighborhood, you’d better wait until Saturday.
Unfortunately, in the City of Tamarac, Code Compliance is too busy to keep our city cleaned up during the week.
Many times I have made calls to the city, only to be told by Code Compliance that their weekend officer will take care of my request on Saturday. Each week I pick several of these signs up myself and have quite the collection in my garage.
I understand that Code Compliance has more to do than worry about these illegal signs, but I when I see how Coral Springs takes care of their issues on a daily basis, I can’t help but feel a little envious.
What I don’t understand is that if Code Compliance is so bogged down by their schedules as well as the ongoing, never-ending issue with snipe signs, why haven’t they taken my suggestion and purchased the same system that Mayor Peter Bober of Hollywood has? That is, a robocall system that the city uses to plug in the phone numbers of the offenders. What it does is call the phone numbers on the signs over and over until the owner of the sign pays a fine. Simple, right? Think it’s expensive? It’s not. It’s only around $300.
What it also does is generate revenue for the city. Yes, you read that correctly. We could make revenue by fining the offenders!
I suggested this over a month ago, however, I believe the City of Tamarac just likes to do things the same old way, “Don’t worry about these signs here all week, our weekend person will remove them.”
Why should it bother them? Here are a few good reasons:
1. Community Development Director Jennifer Bramley doesn’t have to look at them because she doesn’t live in Tamarac
2. Director of Code Compliance Mark Woods doesn’t have to look at them because he doesn’t even live in Broward County
3. City Manager Michael Cernich doesn’t live in Tamarac
Until we make some changes, these businesses will keep polluting our city with their illegal signs making Tamarac look blighted. So enjoy the view.