sign from god(s)

seems my wonderful community, belleville, michigan, is on a spending spree. the town is in a loss for tax revenue for the next 5-10 years, but our D.D.A., downtown development authority, spends money as fast as they can print it. for the past 6-8 months, we have been fighting the city council on a digital moving sign board ordinance, that they want to pass, so the D.D.A. can replace the town's old sign board with a modern, moving sign board.

there are two main problems with this sign; one, being the placement of the sign, it is at a choke point where traffic comes into town and in the middle of a busy intersection. the second problem, is the federal government is going to put out mandates and guidelines of placements of such signs, as they have proven in government studies, to be a distraction to drivers, along the lines as text messaging. once the federal government rules on the signs, then the states follow suit and down to the local boys.

the city is trying to get their sign up a.s.a.p., as once it is up, it will be "grandfathered" in and allowed to stay up, regardless of the laws. the city council has been reminded, since the first month of this year, just how dangerous this action is, but refuse to see merit in the government studies and rules, only to allow the D.D.A. to run rife thru the community, regardless of the legal issues at hand. personally i have fought long and hard, being very vocal in the media as well as giving up a appointed city position, in defence of the upcoming government ruling concerning public safety.

when we had a city council meeting to pass the ordinance, the city brought in a group of church groups, wishing to have their own visual message signs; of the many excuses why they should have one as well, my favorite reason was so they, the church, could post city and governmental postings as well, as a favor to the city, in helping promoting good community service, besides the obvious reason, which they also quoted, of falling memberships. two issues here; first is the seperation of church and state; i don't want any church group, plying the media with their propaganda slanted to the bias of the churches views, on government or political agendas. it is what the consitution was based on, the seperation. the second issue, is the falling membership. i don't know about you, but when it comes to religion, it is pretty cut and dry; if you lean towards a religious point of view, you have already made your choice, so in a city of less than 4,000 people, i am quite sure, having a jesus christ happy meal, or a jihad to go, special or zionist bombing two for one deal; i see no real reason to have a visual message board. people already know where you are at, they know your religious beliefs as a group, so your need for a sign is invalid.
this town is a small town; we have a historical past, but alas, the citys leaders are trying to turn it into a tokyo by night lite, with all kinds of visual distractions and taking away from the history that is Belleville. i fear this is only going to get worse, before it is going to get better. this is no sign i wish to heed.