NIMBY NONSENSE

When property owner Richard Modolo uncovered an old Coca-Cola sign while removing asbestos siding from his Bernal Heights building in 1991, it's unlikely he anticipated the controversy it would create 20 years later.

Since its discovery, he's been maintaining the sign, touching it up occasionally with fresh paint jobs. Two weeks ago, neighborhood blog Bernalwood broke the story that the sign at 601 Tompkins Ave. had become the target of an anonymous person who complained to the city. A subsequent investigation by the Planning Department concluded that the sign was in violation of anti-billboard laws and must be removed by Feb. 24, or Modolo will face fines of $100 per day.

The Planning Department (and the affronted NIMBY) underestimated the tenacity of the sign's advocates.

Bernalwood editor Todd Lappin continued to lobby for the cause of the sign, researching the sign’s age and conferring with the Planning Department to explore ways to save it, including the possibility of having the area declared a historic sign district. Another blog, Burrito Justice, consulted with an archivist at the Coca-Cola company who, based on design elements, placed the creation of the sign to be of pre-1942 vintage. For mor click Here:
http://www.baycitizen.org/design/story/campos-announce-course-action-coca-cola/?utm_source=The+Bay+Citizen+Daily+Newsletter&utm_campaign=48e98d050c-&utm_medium=email