Serious Concerns About Belmont Campaign Banners

We're heading into the end of another local campaign season, and that means the scourge of campaign signs.

When I moved to Belmont in the 90s, no one had them on lawns. The first big push for signs was during the infamous McLean vote. The Solomon-Monahan race of 2002 cranked that up, and every contested campaign since has followed. As much as I dislike them, I often end up putting one out, and win or lose, I'm eager to yank it out the morning after the election.

This year it is even more out of control. For the selectmen's race, there's a fairly even mix of Roger Colton vs Sami Baghdady signs on people's lawns, with some pro-pool ones in most neighborhoods. We're all used to that now. (A couple weeks ago, I mistook the hot pink Legally Blonde (the BHS musical) signs for campaign colors. Yes, a bit too bold for that.)

But I find the huge banners for Baghdady on commercial properties crass and distasteful. The one at the apartment building across from the Fire HQ is expected; that always sports the names of the right wingers. The gigantic one on the big white plastic fence at School St and Philip Rd has all the charm of a car wash ad on the outfield fence at a Lowell Spinners game.

Having a Planning Board member's signs on properties that the Planning Board made decisions about does not pass the smell test for me. These include the new mini strip mall at Concord and Bright Rd and the fence at the construction site at the railroad crossing. As for the dangling banners in Cushing Sq, well, the soul has already been sucked out of Cushing by the stagnant hole across the street, so perhaps that does not matter much. Of course anything around the Cushing development (or, rather, lack-of-development) plugging any political figure gives bad impressions. Yeah, yeah, first amendment rights, blah, blah. Save it. Candidates for any office in Belmont should both be and appear squeaky clean.

Like Soviet era arms race, this will only escalate in years to come, and Belmont is the worse for it.