Lucia and Chris got an earful from Cambridge Poster Police the other day. And this threatening letter.
We put together little packs of posters to announce new events (e.g., Beer Launch at the HUB, which is what this issue was about) and encourage customers to grab a pack of 5 and use them to spread the word.
There was a recent article published in the Cambridge Chronicle about a poor woman who was looking for her cat and was threatened with hundreds of dollars in fines for violating Cambridge’s anti-poster regulations. I’m not making this up. We know because the compliance officer who is mentioned in the article was the one who came by the chew Chris out and he mentioned how mad he is about these posters because of the article. I hadn’t seen the article and looked it up and couldn’t figure out whether to laugh or cry.
Really Cambridge? Really? Really?
Every place I’ve ever known to have a real vibrant and active community has had posters. The country store in my hometown (Streeters) had a big wall where people would post bear sightings and community announcements etc. My church had a bulletin board that was used by everybody. The cooperative we bought groceries from had a huge bulletin board with crazy posts about new age this and that and yoga classes. MIT is famous for posters. There are dozens of sites across campus and a complete system that includes twice per week clearing of the poster boards. Everybody posts their event announcements and that’s the main way you learn about what’s going on as a student.
So Cambridge, that’s what you’re NOT fostering. I don’t think there’s any question that posters help communities communicate with one another. So what ARE you gaining? Seriously, does anybody know the origins of these laws? What was the goal? Why ban posters? Is this something we can change?
In the meantime, for those of you trying to help us out, just keep the posters off of Cambridge Streets. That might save us $1,000s of dollars in fines. Just keep them to dorms, churches, etc. Private spaces. Thanks.
I’m surprised that the DPW is prioritizing fining great neighbors like you and the family of Annie the shelter dog owners who out up lost dog signs. I did until I realized that Vincent Best was the guy behind your compliance notice. He’s had a history of getting involved in some sketchy actions while working at the DPW. Just google his name and ‘Cambridge’ and you’ll see a bunch of really wild stuff about how’s he’s been involved with bad stewardship of his authority concerning bikes and confiscated bike property.
BTW I am a neighbor of yours on Tremont St. and not only do I welcome your business and applaud your eye on the environment of Inman around your HUB, but I take issue with the DPW on this matter. I fully support you guys on this issue.
More broadly concerning streets and sidewalks here in Inman, I have personally had to clean the the streets and sidewalks in front of the DPW when they neglected to do it themselves, we also had to buy a trash can with our own money for DPW employees that park on our street and couldn’t be bothered to take their trash into that facility. It wasn’t until we wrote multiple missives to the head of the DPW that hey agreed to do the bare minimum of keeping the facility as clean as any other neighbor. I also wonder how many empty liqour bottles and scratch tickets Vincent Best had to step over to give you the complaint you received about your harmless fliers. We have two liquor stores in our area that cause so much trouble and create so much litter and I only see DPW employees frequenting these establishments never citing them for trash from their clientele. Why have you been singled out? I wonder? It seems that some people at the DPW really have problems with priorities. It’s sad for all the good hard working people at the DPW that a few employees can do so much harm to the good will of the community. My advice is to take your legitimate complaint directly to the head the DPW and bypass what appears to be a classically malfeasant supervisory staff bureaucrat.
Good luck to you guys!
I’m a cambridge resident and a clover-fan, and think you should avoid postering– it does create litter, it does detract from the environment. Clover posters might be nice, but I don’t want every restaurant around plastering the streets.
Thanks for the note Brandon! Good to know we have another poster lover on our streets : )
As far as I know Somerville has no such law, and you know what? It’s not a problem. One does see the occasional poster for the lost pet, yard sale, etc on the telephone poles, and somehow it hasn’t caused the streets to be flowing with poster trash or plummeting property values.
I’m disappointed that you broke the law and littered our fair city. I’m double-disappointed that you’re whining about it.
The whining is out of place. The law prohibits litter, and you violated the law. You are lucky that the city is kind enough to warn you rather than fine you right away.
Play by the rules. If you thought that Cambridge needs posters on the street, you should have proposed it to City Council. But don’t break the rules and then blame the rules. Blame yourself.
Michelle
Would you guys consider opening up some wall or window space in HSQ to foster that? Help make us vibrant!
Lots of local businesses feel like you do; Cafe Crema and 1369 coffee house, for example, have a bulletin board on which customers can post flyers for bands, shows, events, classes…
I do kinda love seeing posters on the streets, though.
We actually figured out a good solution for this. Anyone who has an event, show, discussion, etc, can come in and make a poster using our butcher paper and markers or crayons. We actually owe you guys a blog post on this. It’s worked really well.
Michelle,
Thanks for writing. I guess we just have a different view on this. We love posters. And our posters bring attention and dollars to people who are doing revolutionary stuff with food (like Andrea and Chris, brewers who are making beer with all-local malt and barley). On the whining stuff: you’ll notice we don’t censor much on this site. We’d rather keep it honest, even mundane. A place where we can post all the things that happen to us, including encountering things we are curious about (like Cambridge’s poster laws).
Reaching out to City Council is actually a great idea. Thanks so much for suggestion. Maybe something we’ll look into.
In the meantime, we’re sticking to private property (schools, churches, etc) and public bulletin boards. I’ve noticed one public bulletin board near Inman Square. Do you know of others in Cambridge?